Gabriel Birnbaum – Nightwater
Self Released – 8 April 2020
Following hot on the heels of Not Alone (reviewed here), even Gabriel Birnbaum didn’t expect to release Nightwater in April. He didn’t even know he was making an album. “Initially it was a response to election stress, a way to soothe myself instead of ratcheting up anxiety online. Obviously, in the time since then, the practice has only gotten more valuable.”
As a way to salve his soul, Gabe began to learn how to use an old, forgotten Tascam four-track tape recorder, something that takes a certain amount of doing in a digital world. Instead of having unlimited tracks at the touch of a button Gabe had only four (or slightly more if you start bouncing tracks back and forth, but the resulting sound degradation makes that problematic). Recording in February, before Covid-19 changed the political and social landscape.
Certain things, however, didn’t change. One was Birnbaum’s desire and ability to connect with the world around him. Yet, even more importantly, it gave him a place, and a practice, to calm his mind. Hours passed in the blink of an eye, as he created miniatures instead of larger landscapes. Over the course of these fourteen tracks, he maps out an inner world replacing the outer turmoil.
Wistful and elemental, the combination of electric guitars and electric piano on Snake plant on gravel empty lobby offers a simple getaway gateway well within reach. A mood of melancholy pervades Yellow sign DISCOUNT LIQUOR seen through the window. A simple keyboard and an electric guitar don’t so much offer relief as exposing a pathway, perhaps a road not taken.
Percussive clangs expose the Sun bleached BBQ grill red to pink moving on an insistent pulse. These are visions, frozen in time and they are the perfect way to recharge during these times of enforced idleness. Instead of monuments we get moments, Coupe glass half full initially feels like a mélange of percussion, keyboard with a mysterious sax blending in the background.
Ashtray I 3 NY is a cosmic cowboy reverie, slide guitars shifting landscapes urban or rural, locating an inner space of comfort despite the surrounding chaos engulfing us. Out of the midst of guitar glitter a keyboard takes a trip of discovery, Kitchen wall a cold cup of cosmos suggests there is more than meets the eye, or the ear, while going to the land that exists beyond mire cabinets.
A soundtrack for inner landscapes, Nightwater exists in a world we never expected to enter. While we struggle with new realities Gabriel Birnbaum allows us to explore a never neverland of the everyday. What we see depends on where we look. Examine carefully.
Order it now via Bandcamp: https://gabrielbirnbaum.bandcamp.com/album/nightwater