indie-only silver vinyl version - Over four years, Gabriels released an album's worth of songs laced with halting composites of gospel, doo wop, and soul, some with string arrangements worthy of thriller film scores. Along the line, they gained support from prominent BBC and KCRW DJs and famous musicians alike, leading to an appearance at the 2022 Glastonbury Festival. The trio seemed to be on the brink of a greater breakthrough when, in September 2022, they issued their first album. Make that part of it. The seven-song Angels & Queens, Pt. 1 was presented as its first half. The following July, after another Glastonbury performance, Gabriels returned not with part two, but with a 13-track album, titled simply Angels & Queens, combining all the tracks from part one with five new compositions and a thumping dancefloor mix of early "hit" "Love and Hate in a Different Time." The depth and density of Gabriels' songs are such that the delayed gratification in receiving the full LP was just as well. In completing the set, Gabriels scrapped some summer 2022 tour dates to take advantage of the availability of Sounwave, an in-demand producer known most for his close work with Kendrick Lamar. In no obvious way did they compromise their previously all-internal creative process. There's more funk and a little disco in the mix -- as on the multi-tiered title song, "Remember Me," and "Glory," highlights haunted by ghosts of Memphis and Philadelphia, if transmitted from Mars -- but Gabriels continue to sound out of time all the time. As with their previous recordings, some components of these songs sound as if they were liberated from a stash of disintegrating demos recorded in ramshackle churches and orchestra halls. Powering this is Jacob Lusk, an upper-range marvel who somehow sounds as if he's both in your face and communicating from the beyond, evoking Eddie Kendricks at his most anguished, and Sylvester at his most ecstatic, if with a character all his own. Moreover, the lyricism is remarkable, like when he's detailing lustful temptation with a band lurching and convulsing behind him to signify withdrawal: "Bible says it's bad, but not for me/Don't bring me fruit then say I can't eat." Regret, longing, and grief fill the other songs, but Lusk's soaring, whole-hearted articulations of hope and reassurance prevent this transfixing album from being an unqualified downer. - Andy Kellman
| A1 | Offering |
| A2 | The Blind |
| A3 | Angels & Queens |
| A4 | Taboo |
| A5 | To The Moon And Back |
| A6 | Professional |
| A7 | We Will Remember |
| B1 | Remember Me |
| B2 | If You Only Knew |
| B3 | Love And Hate In A Different Time |
| B4 | Glory |
| B5 | Great Wind |
| B6 | Mama |
