Galaa - The Speech
Ethereal indie-pop band Galaa drops their new album today. Entitled The Speech, the album was recorded in a variety of locations, from opulent art galleries near the ocean to a basement apartment close to the airport in St. John’s NL.
Galaa
Vocalist Aley Waterman started out as a solo artist. Serendipity entered and she chanced upon Hey Rosetta. Teaming up, they dropped an EP, Young Hymns, which generated beau coup word of mouth hubbub. Initially known as Gala, the name changed to Galaa and the band shared the stage with Tegan and Sara, DIANA, Rich Aucoin, and Owen Pallett. Securing a grant from MusicNL Sound Recording, the band began laying down tracks for The Speech.
Galaa comprises Aley Waterman, Adam Hogan, Josh Ward, and Ashley Chambers. Produced by Romesh Thavanathan and Adam Hogan, the album ponders themes pertinent to ontological beings, concepts like love, death, grief, and the duration of time. In one sense, it’s a musical investigation of mystical import.
Embracing ten tracks, the album opens with what is perhaps my favorite track, a gorgeous ghostly tune called “Open Eyes.” Floating on new-wave synth-pop colors, the tune radiates layers of sonic textures, creamy, sparkling, cavernous, and crisp. The sum of the textures provides a subtle mood of exquisite temperament.
Waterman’s spectral tones infuse the music with wraithlike filaments, drifting, almost evanescent, yet oozing buff colors of mesmerizing essence.
Other tracks not to miss include “Ender,” a song posing the question, “does anything last?” Gracious colors rife with suppressed energy ripple and flow with unrelenting, almost secretive, tangible auras, as Waterman’s pale, piercing timbres stream forth. “The Girl Who Ran” discharges ozone smelling hues and glosses of gleaming residual momentum, shifting and wavering, alternating and undulating.
And then there’s “Bloom,” opening on swirls of actinic embers flowing into a choir-like glow of synths, as if the angelic host of the Empyrean deigned to provide backing vocal harmonies. This is a gloriously numinous song rife with magical substance.
Simply put, The Speech is breathtakingly excellent, akin to sonic spells and exsufflations. On this album, Galaa is transcendent.
