The music of Rui Gabriel has an easygoing amble about it. The stuff on his new record Compassion recalls the mellow gold we heard on radios in the early Eighties. There's a sense here that the member of punk band Lawn has tempered his passions, or at least found a way to channel them into studio-reliant soft rock.
"Dreamy Boys" and the propulsive "Church of Nashville" find Gabriel using his nearly whispered vocals to anchor numbers which lean on keyboards and sleek surfaces. What guitar there is here is more of a rhythmic device to give these songs some momentum. Far better is "Change Your Mind", a number that achieves a certain catchy buoyancy. The playful "Summertime Tiger" might be my favorite track on the record. With vocals from Stef Chura, the selection has a rollicking charm abou it, and it's a tiny bit less understated than most of what's on Compassion.
Nothing on Compassion is looking to rewrite the rules on indie pop, but that's okay. It's a pleasant listen, and the perfect sort of album to put on at the end of a long summer day when the heat is starting to let up. The vibes are so pleasing here on this Rui Gabriel record that any criticism would seem hurtful; how can you not like a musician who named their album Compassion, after all?
Compassion by Rui Gabriel is out now via Carpark Records.
[Photo: Victoria Conway]