New Single By Gabriel Moreno: Layers
A new single by Gabriel Moreno has just been released—titled ‘Layers’, the track combines the Gibraltarian singer songwriter’s trademark poetic lyrics and melancholy guitar work.
The single is from the upcoming album Cracking The System With Love. Gabriel has collaborated with the following creatives: the video, which can be viewed here (https://tinyurl.com/moreno2026) is by Valentina Polato, violinist Richard Moore is on strings, additional vocals are by Pearl Fish and the mixing is executed by Michael Collins.
The ‘layers’ referenced in the song are open to certain interpretations. They could be masks—those different personalities we adopt as a defence— or even, more erotically, someone’s clothes.
Gabriel says “We go around wearing layers and layers of emotional cloth. Years of trauma, centuries perhaps. Then we have the masks, yes; the persona we create to survive in social groups. We need help uncovering these masks. Romance and true friendship make it harder to maintain the farce. For this reason, I think we should value bonds and otherness as a vehicle to self-discovery and a form of truth which is what I am looking for in poems and songs.”
Gabriel says the lyrics also refer to the physical layers we wrap ourselves in: make-up, fancy clothes, ties, rings, tattoos, etc.
“One of the freeing things about erotic adventures is the possibility of removing all these layers (metaphorically and physically) and delighting in nakedness.”
The song mentions Canary Wharf and mornings in London so we asked Gabriel to unpack why the city where he’s based frequently features in his poetic and musical work.
He says: “London as a paradigm of a BIG Western metropolis has always featured in my work because I think inhabiting this kind of space shapes your behaviour towards people. I have used the songs and poems as a sort of resistance to the propensity of dehumanisation of overpopulated urban spaces. I sang not to change London but so London did not change me.”
The new album, Cracking The System With Love, will include ten songs exclusively about romance and resistance. The singer/poet says the songs “will investigate different forms of carnal and psychological bonds from obsessive love to domestic bonds.”
Gabriel explains that all the news songs have been recorded in a different tuning—an open G tuning which is more commonly used in Blues.
“The Rolling Stones made it popular in some of their early records. I continue experimenting in the alternative Folk genre though I feel this album is less infused with Latin rhythms than my previous ones. I have more string arrangements and mellow vocals in this record.”
All the songs will be recorded on nylon strings with violin and percussive arrangements by The Quivering Poets.
Gabriel is currently on a jam-packed, “relentless” tour, having just returned from a series of gigs in Portugal where he says the new songs have been “received very well.”
He now says he looks forward to presenting the new songs in Gibraltar (30th October at the Kasbah). “[In Gibraltar] I know people will get the nuances and complications of emotional bonds as we are a land of lovers and dreamers.”
Listen on Spofity:
https://open.spotify.com/album/5knjBucqhgeSHDN7mCmagC?si=8nw9-_DkSMOEX6hRNs-6qQ
