A few months ago, Gala had asked me to upload a remix of her song You & Me to youtube after kindly sending it to me. I have chosen to include a montage of 4 different music videos from the same era in which it came from (Faraway, I Am The World The World Is Me, You & Me itself and Tough Love) to accommodate the extended intro and outros, with the original video itself staying the same. The song was originally recorded for her 2009 record Tough Love and always stood out to me as something of a disco ballad tinged with punk undertones, and a quiet but stirring remix had lay unreleased ever since. Until now. Gala's strident romance collides with an eloquent disco ballad groove (as reworked by Tareq). Her unforgettably striking and androgynous posturing brings the poignancy, desire and euphoric anguish to life. A song highlighted by an urge to express itself; a hybrid of sexual rejoice and political rebellion.
In other Gala news, the song Lose Yourself In Me is gearing up for a French release (the singer enjoyed two number ones in this territory in the 90s, so this is a huge step).
I am rather busy these days, but the return of Gala with a new EP has brought me back. The enigmatic Italian music creator is working on the project in New York, but has been busy on the road in Europe performing her classic 90s hits as well as her more recent Tough Love album material, including the bristling dance-rock hybrid Different Kind of Love and the passionate title track. From the same album, the pre-civil partnership dance-pop ballad You & Me remains one of my favourite songs of all time and I just cannot wait to hear what the singer has came up with next!
By far the most deee-liteful highlight from Gala's life-in-the-making 2009 Tough Love album was her slithery lesbionic anthem She Really Wants To Try It, snarling all sorts of filth about her vagina. It was the original She Wolf, with a wormy, make that horny, bassline plunging into places I dare not think about. With percussion exclamations that would excite The Creatures, Gala gurns with confrontation or perhaps just zealous scorn for the lipstick liesbians who start to tease the girls when their gays ditch them to pull in the clubs. The Italian dance legend's love machine is literally her meal ticket, then, and by the sounds of it, if she doesn't get this girl to share a cab with her she'll probably devour herself rather than let anything go to waste.
After 12 years, it turns out Gala's new album Tough Love is devoted to balancing the contradiction contained in that title: the strangely sinister social undercurrent of disapproval is being fought, as well as the advent of love's catering assurance. Her caring discipline acknowledges the euphoria that should not be ignored at all costs.
Returning as a fully-formed update of Gala's past, the singer's sleek and determined androgyny augments her idiosyncratic poetic style and generates an even more rewarding musical landscape that finds inspiration drenched in vintage new york punk and garage disco. Gala soaks up music from all over the world most notably on I'm The World and the crisp psychedelic touches on You & Me, singing forcefully but with grace and amusingly indecent humour. She proposes a new template for relationships, to shatter uptight illusions of what is acceptable for both men and women and tangles herself in compelling scenes of high drama.
The sturdy dry-humper Do It violently jerks inspiration through impulse and grinning compulsion to ruffle feathers. It is even freckled with a sparse sprinkling of electronica throughout the verses, but finds most value from the grudging guitar forced to comply to her scandalously liberal views. Its angular melody creates a tense and visceral beginning: the dynamic fly-swatting lyrics can't resist taking quips such as 'people who don't dream are fucking dangerous' as if stridently taunting ideology-sheep. The album's thorniest melodies are at first challenging, yes, but become remarkably memorable once one has assimilated them.
The intensely vibrant and rabid He's Not A Man makes use of her roaring howl like never before. Her cackling performance triggers a lividly high-strung rant against having 'no gutsdisease' and fuels the album's most galloping energy. She is on luminous form here, and her ferocious spasmodic inhalations pack as much punch as her message.
Similarly, the hectic hiccuping first single Tough Love was initially a tough call, but my issues with this track have been totally worth it. At first I thought it was just noise for the sake of noise, but Gala demonstrates she does not need predictably glossy studio production to sound great. Instead, Gala really shines in these unsettled settings: 'you kill me my love' is tormented and her embroiled emotion thrives on such extreme poetry. The punchy brass and excited Nina Hagen intonations are more of a foil for her extroverted pop leanings of which delightfully prove to be superficially frivolous.
Gala smartly straddles between her new revitalised garage-disco and highly effective dance beats. Retaining her 2005 Greek top 5 comeback single Faraway, the creamy and smooth rnb production is at first slinky and positively melts like balm, but Gala's yelping chorus is stoic and tribal. Her predatory stance is a hybrid of lush, soft, angered and sharp emphasizations that are never hesitant to fully commit loyalty for a lover still haunting her - lyrically it is Let A Boy Cry la parte due.
DKOL's chuggingly flurried lust and bristling intent restores Gala's faith and luster: her gutsy vocal burns brighter than a bonfire; and social doctrines meet her sultry derision in a full on collision between desire, angst and guilt. Her lyrics gain arresting control and her beguiling mystery ignites with storming vigour. Those unwavering vocals glare and are delightfully upfront and tuneful. On this forthright rocker the singer dares her lover to declare a statement of social acceptance.
Her echoing yelp cries out to the global village on I'm The World, an insouciant groove appeals and speeds up. More of a mood peice than a genuine anthem, but 'feel its boom boom in your soul' is part of its likeable enthusiasm.
The slow-rising crooner Crying carefully emphasizes Gala's defiant hurt and its understated whim gives one time to breathe as her vocal dramatics take a back seat. A hidden talent for shin-grazing ballads sprouts out from nowhere, and 'you'll be crying, crying like you should' unearths tender humour juxtaposed with whirlpool piano keys and jazzy bassline thumbing the bruises.
An unexpected 'un-remix' of Freed From Desire really should not have a place here, and yet its disco-grunging grind is a fine update, not least with handclapping encouragement. Her signature anthem is explicity re-worked in order to achieve full control of her music. Whilst covering all bases, Gala simply retains her footing here.
The pouty truculence of I See Through You has plate-smashing melodrama embroidered into the stacatto piano keys. Screaching 'I just got my shit together' is ruefully hilarious and indignant. And a dance beat. with her bombastic excesses, it's neurotically humourous and ultimately enjoyable. an enthralling Italian interjection proves her as a highly adept dramatic performer.
Just when you think she can't slow down, the danceable ballad You & Me is Gala's masterpiece. One has to look out their window just to be reminded it's not 1980. It is the most effective presentation of her songwriting. The talented Italian chanteuse ascends to dizzying heights and yet it is remarkably the most tranquil song on the whole album. The rusty high-pitched guitar riff has the same rich texture as Siouxsie & The Banshees' Hong Kong Garden, which it vividly pays tribute to. Her singing is excellent on this track, with particular success as she wails into the sunset with weightless energy.
The swaggering No Doubt style scenario on Number 3 is almost too enforced for its own good, but her discordant delivery proves to be her grappling secret weapon, just about pulling it off. Not the album's brightest spot, it might be difficult to recommend, but it still fulfills her unique pedigree of abrasively eccentric romance.
She works up a sweat on the slitheringly septic-sounding proposal She Really Wants To Try It, with devouring vocals going insidiously in for the kill to inaugurate an inexperienced lover. Sharp steam plumes of percussion trumpet at intervals, signalling someone's buttons being pressed or rather coming undone. Gala licks her gums in macho pursuit - her mezmerising narration is lurid, lubricated and trashy, but is enticingly galvanising and indicates a distictively rewarding ending. Try it yourself.
Tough Love complies exactly as outlined: songs of adroit structure, emphatic tempo and untamed passion. Her strong-willed persona and proposition of unbridled glamour are truly staggering. Gala's long-awaited comeback exceeds all expectations, and her gutsy style achieves intoxicating results that will impress neophytes and fans starving for new material alike.
The new album Tough Love is available on worldwide iTunes now.
I am pinching myself - the new Gala song released to youtube (far below) You & Me is a bit of a sentimental love anthem. Those cooing 'doo-doo-doo-doo's are going to be my life support machine this summer - like all healthy relationships, it just stabs you in the heart making it impossible to live without its devastating control. With her gorgeous whispers, I never expected something so gushing from Gala but it has lit a flame inside me that I know is not going to burn out. Because her androgynous image is something I marvel at endlessly (scroll right to see her in the Diva Incarnate banner above), it makes me wonder who gave her the inspiration: they must be the most gorgeous girl/boy on the planet.
Below: Gala on the set of her self-financed Tough Love video. I shall suggest nothing about her Prisoner Cell Block H fantacies! As it finishes (around the 2 minute mark), Gala yelps beyond her wildest dreams just when the track sounds like Hong Kong Garden by Siouxsie & The Banshees as well as those rusty-sounding vintage New Order disco fiascos. Fireworks explode outside her lights-out New York apartment and this track makes the metaphor a shared experience - her visceral performance in the video is utterly transfixing as she revels in her romantic euphoria.
Above: who wouldn't look this smug with cheekbones Madonna would trade a surplus African orphan for?
I never saw this coming from her: I was secretly disappointed by the rawness of the song Tough Love and really had to analyse it in order to appreciate its good points, but with You & Me she makes it as easy as Freed From Desire with a track that wounds you with its beauty and brings you to your knees with it's romantic impact and sheer sincerity.
Above: her 2.40 nourishing yelp makes the 12 year wait for Gala's re-surfacing worth every second. In the video, her movement shadows a striking resemblence to her iconic animation in the Freed From Desire video, a song which has sold 6 million copies worldwide to date (more than fucking Cher's Believe).
Tough Love EP available June 1st (French iTunes only) and full album September 6th. Expect a 57 page review any day whenever I get my hands on the files!
