Gabby Young & Other Animals, Gift of the Gab Records (02/11/09)

Uber-glam Gabby Young follows up her Bear With Me EP with debut album, We’re All In This Together, backed by her tried and trusted eight-piece band, Other Animals.

Album opener Umm… is a big stew pot of sound, using Young’s grand voice to dance over big band swing and tango rhythms, and just when you think this is becoming too weird she pulls it back to a mellow croon.

Clearly eccentric (just take a look at her eclectic dress sense), Young has a passionate love of music, and her album is an unusual collection of her diverse influences. As such she channels Cab Calloway in the delirious Ones That Got Away, with its pounding Jungle Book drums and frenetic horns, while on the beautiful ballad Maybe (in which the strength of Young’s voice shines through) there are even hints of John Denver. Lipsink cheekily references A Handful of Songs, and anyone who can add a new spin to a traditional gypsy folk song (Ask Me A Question) deserves a look in.

It’s not all homages however. Title track We’re All In This Together is a stunning piece of writing that mixes a country feel with Young’s commanding yet delicate vocal delivery, and Whose House is majestic and soaring, with Young letting rip over a brass accompaniment.

Occasionally the kookiness wears a little thin; Sour, which would best be performed in a smoked-filled speakeasy, doesn’t need to be over five minutes long, while the big, bold and loud Two By Two also could have been reigned in without losing any of its intensity.

Overall, the album works because it steers away from safe commercial mediocrity. Young pushes her voice and her musicians to unexpected places and the result is a self-assured, if not perfect, debut.

Upload/Comment