In 2021, UK-LA trio Gabriels’ two EPs gifted us astonishing songs such as Innocence, choir director Jacob Lusk’s eaves-shaking vocals spotlit in a sparse orchestral setting that invoked the holy dread of foundational 1940s rhythm and blues. This release – last year’s debut album, Angels & Queens Part 1, buttressed by six newer songs – is just as extraordinary. Lusk, with bandmates Ryan Hope and Ari Balouzian, reassembles elements of R&B’s past into fascinating new forms, pin-sharp digital production creating pleasurable dissonance with the analogue velvet of Lusk’s voice.
By turns proud, imploring, seductive and declamatory, Lusk wrestles with loss – of love, of faith, of mind – sometimes untethered from sense, often tortured by temptation. The standout is Love and Hate in a Different Time’s euphoric eschatology, an extroversion of their signature sound. Or is it the title track’s slippery funk? Maybe it’s Taboo, with more drama in its three minutes than a Broadway musical. Possibly the sensational Streisand-quoting heartbreakers Professional and We Will Remember are better. It’s impossible to choose. Every song is a wonder. It is unlikely Angels & Queens will inspire many imitators of its retro-future soul, its damaged doo-wop. It’s simply too good to be copied.
