Diablo

Description

Initial pressing only neon pink vinyl

Gabe Gurnsey today announces details of his new LP, Diablo, and reveals the first single and opening track, Push. Diablo is due for release 9 September via Phantasy.

Push is all about lustful energy, Gurnsey says of the album opener. Recreating that immediate feeling of connection with someone and knowing its going to take you on some twisted euphoric journey. Where will we end up?

Close your eyes and listen to Gabe Gurnseys latest offering, Diablo. You might be transported to a German autobahn after nightfall, strobe lights flashing in your private imaginarium. Or perhaps to a dimly lit basement, getting your top off as sound cascades off of concrete walls. Diablo moves in unexpected directions, and you quickly realise you can relax and trust it to make you feel extremely good. Were in a place of giddy echoes, 808 boings, sexy-menacing vocals and soft throbs, with lyrics full of pleasure and desire; like proper rave lyrics, they are in turn filthy, grandiose, devotional, and cryptic.

Diablo is the follow-up to Gurnseys acclaimed 2018 debut, Physical, on Erol Alkans Phantasy Sound. Where Physical followed the arc of a night out in a linear way, Diablo expands time, slows it down and opens it up, showing a quiet confidence and progression, and making judicious use of Gurnseys girlfriend, Tilly Morris, whose role is that of both muse and collaborator. I wanted Tilly to dominate on Diablo, Gurnsey explains. I wanted her to have free rein. This album works because of her influence, her input.

Morris who was also featured on Physical sings on most of Diablos tracks, contributed to the lyrics, melodies, and synths, and her image is the album artwork. An album with such a level of collaboration only feels this good when you can really trust somebody. This record is formed out of a lot of trust and lust, Gurnsey says. And I think its very honest in a lot of ways, in terms of letting go, in terms of exploring, just in terms of being a bit fucking happy.

Listening to Diablo its striking just how much is being said with so little, its sparse instrumentation being offset with simple but devastating arrangements, and vocals that bring the humanity of the music to life. Tillys been really great at assessing where Im at: Yeah, thats cool. Thats shite. We work together. Ill come up with a melody or an idea for a vocal and then Ill leave her to it and shell just add stuff. Were both big fans of that manipulated vocal sound.

Perhaps the biggest change for Gabe is that he is no longer a drummer, a role he thrived in as a member of Factory Floor, whose uncompromising approach to electronic music made them one of the UKs most energetic live acts. Physical still contained plenty of his tough syncopated rhythms, but on Diablo hes mainly programming them rather than stuck behind the traps. It just didnt really suit it as much, he confesses. It didnt really need it. Nonetheless, rhythm is still at the centre of his songwriting process. 100% start with the drums and bass. And then the melody. Thats always the foundation. Get the drums right, and youre pretty much on your way, arent you?

Diablo is an urban record, and you can hear and feel that city-edge on every track, most of them pure dancefloor fire. On Blessings Gabes vocal channels a post-futurist Donna Summer as the song drives towards Munichs Hansa studios for an evening rendezvous with Giorgio Moroder. Tillys confessional vocal on Higher Estates pushes and pulses through the sublime pleasure of urban squalor. The drum-less To Love In A Sea Of Fire contains little more than a coruscating bass and synth pads to accompany the lure of Tillys sarcastic drawl. Title track Diablo sees Gabe and Tilly deliver a disembodied duet, love-sparring like a post-apocalyptic Donny & Marie Osmond they reprise this routine on So Sweet (which is anything but): Im breaking at the thought of your love, Im shaking at the thought of your mind. Power Passion has a touch of wine bar and a hint of Daft Punk and You Remind Me is all sharp little squelches, stutters, and swooning sunrise vocals. Give Me shifts from demand (Give me your loving) to begging (Give me your loving) in the sweetest and sexiest way. To The Room closes the record with a sinister softness, glimpses through a doorway into other possibilities.

Youll hear all sorts of influences here, from Peaches, Detroit techno, deep house, electro, Suicide and Eurythmics. Its a generous stew which shows its appreciation for his forebears without ever being overshadowed by them. I love the80s, he admits. Its been a big influence. Theres just something quite melancholy about that era, isnt there? Lets face it, most of the best dance music has that minor-key sadness, channeled to perfection by Gurnsey and Morris.