Gabriel Moreno
Wound in the Night
Poetry Mondays
2023
Despite my fading memory, highlighted programme notes serve me well in confirming that prior to enjoying A Winter Union on one of the main stages, I caught Gabriel Moreno in the Skyline Pavilion at 2019’s Great British Folk Festival in Skegness, a performance that won him the ‘Introducing Stage’ Award. Creatively prolific, Wound In The Night is his third album release since the start of the pandemic which followed this Festival appearance, his fifth studio album overall, together with the publishing of two further poetry books in the same period, the second, Heart Mortally Wounded By Six Strings, his 13th publication, also released in 2023.
Born and raised in Gibraltar, he has lived and worked across the world and is currently resident in London, where he was previously the long-time curator and host of the Lantern Society Folk Club. In 2022, he was awarded the honourary title of Cultural Ambassador of Gibraltar.
With such a well-journeyed background, it is no surprise that his music reflects the melting pot and fusion of influences absorbed on these travels, his Latin exuberance delivering “a ghost-like Taberna-Folk sound”. As to lyrical content, contemporary social issues, protest and cerebral commentary feature alongside an exploration of more emotional aspects of the human condition.
All songs on this album are written by Gabriel, and he provides vocals and acoustic guitars. Other musicians credited are Ned Cartwright (piano), Michael Collins (bass, percussion, drums & electric guitar), Maya McCourt (cello), Billy McGee (double bass), and Tom Mawby (violin), with backing vocals provided by Pearl Fish and Ayesha Watling. Additionally, Ty Watling features on track one on electric guitar. The album was arranged and produced by Michael Collins, with assistance from Ned Cartwright and Gabriel Moreno and was mastered and mixed by Erik Wofford.
The opening track, Growing Old, which appeared on YouTube earlier this year, is a glorious evocation and rumination on the ageing process. Gabriel ponders, amongst other things, whether he should “leave the war to younger troubadours”. The lilting piano and drum brushes provide an atmospheric background to the fascinating slow-tempo, dolorous vocal delivery, which at times punctuates each syllable. When the backing vocals enter the chorus, it sounds like Sailor and Leonard Cohen have joined forces (a good thing!). The line “But here we are with our dreams undone, I am sorry love but I can’t give up the fight!” will surely resonate with many listeners.
Another song which can be interpreted as referencing the passing of time is Retrograde. The strummed guitar and vocal introduction gradually develop in intensity and tempo, leading to a closing imploration: “So cancel me if my voice ain’t right because I need a voice more than days need nights and if my oars your waves won’t find, abandon me but tell me rightly,” before swirling, ethereal sounds bring the piece to an end.
The title track, Wound In The Night (wound as in injury), is a smoky, slow, sparse composition with some exquisite piano playing in a song which I would categorise as a protest song, alluding as it does to contemporary ongoing world events, with mention of Kyev (sic) in the lyrics and the poignant observation that
There’s a war in the West there’s a war in East
and only the rich have got tickets to flee…
…can we toast to the ones who were broken and shun
by the hammer of hearts prone to the greed and the lies!
Where The Wild Winds Go is also a song of protest imploring peace and is an object lesson in the art of writing a song within this genre without recourse to shouty rancour. The gentle drum beat, unadorned guitar and languid tempo belie the subject matter, and the effects that create sounds akin to an oboe/clarinet emphasise the mood created by the lyrics, which include
Lately, someone’s making this house to fall, they are planting liquid bombs in the patios of our future…
and the enigmatic observation that is
Tell me, did they start another war,
just because their testicles were far too overgrown?
I am sick of their show…
A similar furrow is ploughed in Blurred Horizons. Again, a slow-tempo piece with delightful piano and guitar accompanying Gabriel’s baritone voice in a song which, whilst having a simple but effective chorus repeating the song’s title, also contains the exhortation
You, who know our pain so well
Cannot defend the tyrant’s spell.
And if you want to keep the fight
Don’t listen to the tiny minds
Two further tracks where the backing vocals contribute to magnificent effect are Nobody Knows Where We Are and Shutters On Your Eyes. The former, which sounds suspiciously as if it also features keyboards of some kind, creates an infectious Latin vibe and rhythm with its acoustic guitar, especially as the song draws to an end, whilst the latter is one of the more up-tempo songs on the album, with bass, drums and electric guitar announcing its arrival, and giving ample opportunity for the vintage instruments and analogue gear used in the recording to shine. Gabriel’s wordplay also comes to the fore, with what could be construed as an attempt to establish records for the use of “ow” and “er” rhymes in verses 1 and 2 respectively, whilst employing assonance in verse 3.
Origami Bird provides another slow, stripped-back affair that utilises acoustic guitar and almost spoken lyrics in a song that again references pain and wound. This spoken-word template is used again in track 8, the captivating Suzanne Valadon. Furthermore, the accompaniment is spartan, the beguiling cello and rumbling wind-like sounds in the background embellishing this song in which Moreno entreaties aid, in the form of a conversation, from the ghost of the famed but troubled French artist.
The album closes with another more upbeat number. Bass and drums, choppy piano chords and a catchy chorus create a sound redolent of the Caribbean as the composer rues the return of someone important to him to Spain and implores their return to his current home, London Town.
Wound in The Night is an absorbing and engaging listen, which, for me, works best in the quiet of the night. Others, notably Cerys Matthews, have compared Gabriel and Leonard Cohen. I concur. There are times when listening to this album, especially on the tracks featuring female backing singers, where Gabriel Moreno seems to be the ideal person to fill the void left by Cohen.
Website: https://www.gabrielmoreno.co.uk/