Brother Gabriel: Single Review
A masquerade is defined as, “a false show or pretense”, and there have been many masquerades, but none have been so bold as to call themselves the greatest. Watergate was pretty good, The Cold war caused a lot of cortisol levels to rise, and the Trojan horse was a classic that inspired many prior to its conception, but here in our little corner of the universe, we call Salt Lake City we have found The Greatest Masquerade, an album by Brother Gabriel. This Local artist is kicking off the new year with its release on 02/20/2020, but he gave us a sliver of the album in the release of three singles titled “The Solution”, “Tetris”, and “Vatican City”.
“The Solution” fades into the sound of a soulful organ and piano on a loop, with Gabriel Najarian coming in soon after lacing his words in a bluesy but calming overtone. The chorus is uplifting and catchy, dealing with themes of destitution and obviation of civilization. One of the best parts of the song is the special surprise of a rocking organ solo at the end, you don’t hear the organ in a lot of music, but it makes everything instantly groovy, and instant groove is splendid when applied in the right context in which Brother Gabriel has done with this particular song.
“Tetris”, the second single released, fades into a mantra of synthesizers and sparkly-chime type sounds. It sounds heavenly, and only more calming when guitars release a loop of serendipitous string picking. The violin comes into the scene almost appearing like a ghost. The vocals and lyrics are delivered in a beautifully calm and concentrated voice, with the occasional beating of some piano chords growing into a chorus of all the instruments at the end. The theme is obvious, fitting things together is hard, and sometimes it’s like playing Tetris, but the descriptions and expressions that Brother Gabriel emits from his lyrics is worth listening to in itself.
“Vatican City”, the third single, fades in with a chiming piano and the beating of drums, but then suddenly it gets quiet as Gabriel begins to sing. He brings up images of wars, morals, and faith. We know the struggles that comes with faith, and the controversies that escalate to war over matters of faith that drives humanity to complete cultural cannibalism, but we still don’t do anything much about it because of the fact that we do not know what to do.
Overall the three singles really give us a glimpse of what Brother Gabriel is up to in the new album, but to really understand it we suggest listening to it yourself on 02/20/20. The Greatest Masquerade is soulful and genuinely delivered, you can only benefit from the listen. . So, follow Brother Gabriel on Spotify, and Instagram for local concerts and his other works.
