Gabriella Cohen - Full Closure & No Details [CD]

Melbourne artist Gabriella Cohen's first solo full-length is the product of ten days and two microphones. Co-produced alongside close friend, bandmate, and engineer Kate 'Babyshakes' Dillon, the record is the result of what Cohen describes as the "ceremony" of reflecting on a relationship. The album's raw, personal side could be traced back to its place of birth at Dillon's parents' place in the country, or to the Brisbane streets the songs were composed in. The songs are soaked in the kind of aching nostalgia that is tinged with equal measures of sadness and triumph. On "I Don't Feel So Alive", Cohen warns: "This could be the last time we get together", and on one hand it's melancholy, but it's in the spirit of endings that are also beginnings. There are two sides to Cohen's coin though - for every moment of raw, cutting emotion, there's one of otherworldly ethereality. It's what makes the record feel timeless, which doesn't mean old-fashioned - it means that the vocoder on "Feelin' Fine" and the fuzzy, frenzied drums of "Alien Anthem" don't feel at odds with the dreamy, ambling melodies and old-school ethos at the heart of Cohen's songwriting.