“Lyrically, it’s at a level you rarely hear […] consistently brilliant and unpredictable lyrics” Cerys Matthews, BBC6 music “A damn fine pop record” Steve Lamacq, BBC6 Music Following Gabi Garbutt’s brilliant 2019 debut album, ‘The Discredited Language of Angels,’ which saw Gabi and her band performing live sessions for BBC 6Music’s Cerys Matthews and Radio X’s John Kennedy, and scoring plays on Steve Lamacq and Chris Hawkins, Gabi Garbutt and Trapped Animal are proud to announce ‘Cockerel’ out on 12” Blue Sky 180GSM vinyl and Trad Black, CD DigiPak and Digitals on May 20th 2022. Gabi and her band toured with The Libertines and Edwyn Collins in 2019, and were all set for a year of touring and festivals 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 band summon 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. Connecting again with multi-instrumentalist and producer Sean Read (Beth Orton, Edwyn Collins, The Pretenders) at his Famous Times Studio in Hackney, London - Gabi set to work bringing their songs to life on record. On working with Sean, Gabi says “He’s inspired and knowledgeable. Our visions are in line so it’s easy but also invites an adventurous spirit. The studio itself is a fantastic array of vintage and modern gear - it’s a place for invention and experimentation, and I think this comes across on record.” Upcoming single and second track ‘Subterranean Stars’, one of the most representative songs on the album, catchy guitar licks flutter around trippy lyrical musings, brass refrains and a soaring string arrangement played by Basia Bartz. Gabi’s knack for referencing the lyrics with her instrumentation and creating kinetic rhymes that take the listener outside of themselves are never more apparent than here, “An illumination from beneath a constellation under my feet…these stars, these are my own stars” as the song opens up and swells to its chorus so does the songs narrative. Following this slice of shimmering pop is ‘Genet’s Journey.’ We meet for the first time the baritone sax of Sean Read that provides a gorgeous guttural intro that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Bowie track. In this song, Gabi takes influence from one of her heroes, French writer and activist Jean Genet; ‘He’s someone who ties the visceral to the transcendent. I see this song as Jean Genet guiding me through the physicality of my body, my arteries and veins, and my memories. The song is also a celebration of how our connection to others brings out the best in us.’ Again in Genet’s Journey we hear the glorious interactions of the guitar and voice self-referencing each other and ending all too soon. Next we find the first single from this album, ‘Never Never’ (March 1 2022). In ‘Never Never’, Gabi draws inspiration from Van Gogh and guitarist for Lou Reed and Richard Hell, Robert Quine. Gabi says, “Van Gogh & Robert Quine are both people that I admire artistically and who sadly took their own life, and I had this image of this last blast of sound and colour followed by a deathly silence. It's an affirmation of their great but troubled life, that was so brilliantly and so painfully wrought into their art, and there’s also despair at the blunt finality of their tragically premature deaths. It’s unhinged brassy punk.” Side A of the 12” ends on a more intimate note with ‘Your Blues’, a song about looking out for one another and set in a dive bar suspended somewhere between heaven and hell. With a piano that sounds like it’s being played in the corner of this otherworldly bar, the song features a victorious saw outro played by Andy Heintz (The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing.) Opening Side B we get the sure fire single, “I Can’t Win.” In this darkly intense yet euphoric track, featuring a tapestry of vocals sung though Neumann U67 vintage valve mic, a hand-held 1960s Telefunken Dictaphone mic and MicroKorg Vocoder, Gabi broaches the topic of mental health. The song draws on her own experiences, ‘that if you lean into the mania and try to draw creativity from the manic energy, it can be a destructive path.’ In Habit of Sadness, Gabi explores the merciless nature of depression and calls it ‘a song of solidarity, an awareness that a lot of people are going through a hard time and that we need to remember this and be gentle with each other.’ Sea Organ is inspired by a trip to Zadar in Croatia where there’s an organ carved into the rocks, so as the waves come in and crash around in the organ, an ethereal melancholy melody rings out. Angel of Third Avenue is a Springsteen-esque rock n roll odyssey, a tribute to an older person Gabi was close to who died, ‘she had a fiery spirit, and this spirit wouldn’t let her stop and rest even when she was really ill. When she died, I was thinking where did this fiery spirit go? Tearing up the soil or up into the stratosphere?’ Our Dying World closes the album. A song that started out as being about the discrete suffering of animals and birds in the city, Gabi soon realised she was writing a song about climate change. The Illuminations are: Gabi Garbutt – vocals, guitar, synth, piano, glockenspiel Jimi Scandal – Lead guitar, backing vocals Sean Read – Saxophone, trumpet, piano, organ, melodica, percussion Oliver Jones – Drums, percussion Dan Fatel – Bass ‘This will be amongst the best new tunes you hear all day, all week, maybe even ever.’ Chris Hawkins, BBC6 Music “They create an explosion of sound that is almost orchestral. this musical melange of ideas is stirring and glowing, while shot through with raw poetry and lyricism” GigSlutz