Gabi Garbutt & The Illuminations - Cockerel (2022)

Gabi and her band toured with The Libertines and Edwyn Collins in 2019, and were all set for a year of touring when the pandemic hit in 2020. Retreating into her songwriting, Gabi started sketching out songs about escape and exploring vulnerability. Demoing the arrangements at home then honing the songs with her band The Illuminations as soon as rehearsal studios opened up, they created an explosive album of indie pop bangers that have lyrical and musical depth. As the opening song ‘Bad Boy Bird’ announces “I am no human, I am the promise of dynamite”, Gabi and her bandsummon up a volcanic concoction of sounds, from the poetic punk sensibilities of Ezra Furman and Patti Smith, the soaring alt pop of The Voidz and The Flaming Lips, to Motown inspired soul stompers, the record conjures up a range of atmospheres to occupy the listeners mind over many, many replays, as they fall deeper into the universe that is Cockerel.