Having captured her childhood dream and becoming the sweet sounding voice in her cover of ‘The Power Of Love’ for the famous John Lewis Christmas ad, Bath singer-songwriter, Gabrielle Aplin was thrown into the spotlight for the entire festive season.
With an already solid fanbase after years of building a respectable reputation on her Youtube channel, travelling from covers of the likes of Paramore and YouMeAtSix, all the way to intriguing, wonderfully written originals; not to mention three very successful EP releases, this upcoming star is finally set to release her debut album- ‘English Rain’.
This well-balanced album opens with latest single- ‘Panic Cord’, and is eagerly followed up by the fantastic ‘Keep On Walking’– both springing a similar vibe with feel-good melodies, whilst always laying on that Aplin-esque acoustic tone. ‘Keep On Walking’ actually peaks forward as a stand out track on this album as it pounds out a wonderfully catchy melody combined with equally catchy, and twice as addictive backing vocals.
Shooting through more relatively well-known tracks, such as ‘Please Don’t Say You Love Me’ and ‘Salvation’, both obviously a successful addition to the album, with Gabrielle’s acclaimed Christmas cover also making an appearance. ‘Please Don’t Say You Love Me’, whilst still being very guitar and piano focused, lingers on that full band sound, attaching choir-like harmonies to the chorus. Once the positive feel of this track leaves our ears, the album takes a massive dive into a more mellow, slightly depressed tone with ‘How Do You Feel Today?’.
Very much based on Gabrielle herself, and the acoustic guitar, ‘How Do You Feel Today?’ has both the lyrical power and melodic mood-changing potential to produce ‘English Rain’ tears among many listeners. Gabrielle’s strikingly pure vocals on this track attack on the fore, gliding above the gentle, subtle melody which ultimately creates a heartfelt. pain-releasing atmosphere. Keeping with the relaxed sound, while elevating the mood a few notches, the presence of older track, ‘Home’, will bring a familiarity to long-term fans.
Edging towards the end of the album, the final sounds bring on tracks such as ‘Human’ and ‘November’, two of the better songs on the album. ‘Human’ showcases a more generic sound, containing almost chart-pleasing qualities reigning from a prominent drum rhythm peaking in for the chorus.
Stand out tracks on this debut album which is essentially a gallery of the qualities lining Gabrielle up for utter stardom, consist of ‘Keep On Walking’ , ‘How Do You Feel Today?’ and ‘Human’. Although not many surprises rise on this album, and many tracks sail previous releases, ‘English Rain’ is a damn good debut album heading towards massive success, with the best of both worlds shining through- an essence of a full sound surrounding the purity of the tracks themselves, while the focal point remains very much centered to the Gabrielle Aplin tinge of piano and acoustic guitar.
‘English Rain’ is set to be released on May 13th. Pre-order it here: https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/english-rain/id585635853