If you enjoy the electro-clash synth sounds of Alison Goldfrapp you’re going to love the new album from Louise Quinn’s current project, Gates of Light. And when I say love, you better believe I mean luv, L-U-V…
Gates of Light II from the former A Band Called Quinn singer/songwriter is a compelling listen, at times the smooth electronic rhythms are soothingly hypnotic while later shifting gear into vibrant joy inducing driving beats.
Better Now is a case in point for the former, a blissed out synth driven feel good anthem, just close your eyes and allow yourself to be engulfed with the sonic soundscape and drift off into the ether as the soothing sounds medication to ease the worst of days, before you know it you have surrendered yourself and you are a willing captive to the sublime sounds of I Keep Reaching for the Sun, and despite the bitter cold outside you’re now lying back in the grass, the hazy summer sun forcing you to squint as you drift away into your subconscious.
Need You Now continues to paints pictures in your mind, the reassuring calmness of the vocal and its tranquilizing harmonies playing off of the textured melody, and the ills of the day are beginning to shuffle off.
The next comment probably says more about me watching too many US dramas than anything else, the harpsichord parts of the retro sounds of When I Look at You remind me of the opening sequences of Dexter… sorry, I’ve already compared the driving synth rhythms of the next song Advance (an absolute belter by the way) to Miami Vice in my last singles round up… enough already…(spoiler…sorry I’ve got one more comparison to come)
Quiet Little Miracle is probably as good a description as any for the whole album, nine tracks of divinely inspirational, transcendent blissfulness. The lyrics to this song are particularly touching. The following duo of Make it Real and When You Come Home escalate the pulsing electronica, the former having an early Human League feel, and the latter an awakening from the hypnotic seduction of the early parts of the album
10,000 Years is an epic closing to the album, a masterpiece of mind-bending, clamouring and disquieting layered electronic cacophony clocking in at nearly 9 minutes, I already said I’ve referenced too much US TV and I now also admit I’m obsessed by David Lynch, but just to add to the references, this discombobulating tune could have easily soundtracked one of the early “what the fuck am I watching” episodes in the long awaited third season of Twin Peaks. Bliss.
Don’t wait any longer. If you’ve not listened already, now is the time to transport yourself to another plain. Lose yourself in the music of Gates of Light and free your mind from the shackles of the shit show of 2025.