Apparently, the sobriety, sophistication and talent displayed by this British-American trio throughout their first full-length tenure (“Angels & Queens”, published last year) were not enough for the group led by Jacob Lusk to remain calm when it came to confirming their leadership in this spiral of revitalization of the retro in which we are immersed. For this reason, and in order to expand his first foray into the new soul scene, Gabriel They now offer us an extension of their first album with a deluxe format version of it, completing it with new songs, remixes, and live versions that confirm the media whirlwind that their appearance has caused in the last three years.
Beyond the confusing dosage with which the band has decided to deliver their music to us, “Angels & Queens (Deluxe)” now becomes a wonderful way of bringing together in the same frame the reasons that justify his impressive and undeniable rise to fame, offering the listener an elegant hour and a half of magic in white satin, timeless cinematographic orchestrations, and the thousand and one gifts of which Lusk’s voice is capable of displaying. Because if anyone seems to have the power and gift to break this maelstrom of generic R&B that we’ve entered in recent years, it’s him: a humble former American Idol contestant who in 2011 put the American public in his pocket with his rendition of Billie Holiday’s “God Bless The Child”.
And it will not be trivial for us to mention this milestone in his particular career, since this recurring reference, of course, will make an appearance on countless occasions throughout various passages of the album and by the hand of some of the deepest and most intimate cuts of the himself, where the atmosphere is tinged with a dense and smoky mist that accompanies his voice, barely assisted by fragile wind lines and protruding low string pulsations (“Professional”). Likewise, the trio (completed by Ryan Hope and Ari Balouzian) will do everything in their power to deliver a refined work, taking care of the details to the point of exhaustion, and sensibly and on the palate mixing the goodness of root soul (“Offering”), the blues (“Taboo”), el funk (“Remember Me”), the disc (“Love And Hate In Different Time”), and an overwhelming gospel that will take to the limit that celestial falsetto that Lusk modulates with complete and total zeal. (“Great Wind”).
It is not so much a letter of introduction as a formidable way of confirming and reminding us of the wonder that the trio harbors, so knowledgeable and effective when it comes to sweetening our hearts (“Mama”), disembodied his most intimate dedications (“If You Only Knew”), or move us in the key of musical noir (“To The Moon And Back”). The icing on the cake is provided by a run of live versions that not only remind us of their well-known and widespread popularity (with a recent visit to Glastonbury, where they also had the good fortune to participate in Sir Elton John’s last concert in the United Kingdom ), but also to confirm the shocking second life that his cuts acquire live (“We Will Remember”).
A debut that has gone from format to format, until completing its path and undressing before us a tremendous final form that is, however, the promising beginning of a career with a star.