Amelia’s Magazine | Gabby Young introduces the video for new single I’ve Improved

Gabby Young by Emma Farrarons

Gabby Young by Emma Farrarons.

Gabby Young and Other Animals have announced their return this April with a brand new album, the third from the acclaimed North London songstress. One Foot In Front Of The Other is Gabby’s most personal collection of songs to date, yet still retains the lush big band instrumentation for which she is known, with polished production by fellow Animal and partner, Stephen Ellis. Here Gabby exclusively introduces the new video for the first single from the album, I’ve Improved, which is a jaunty upbeat affair that was inspired by a trip to the Middle East.

Gabby Young-Ive-Improved cover art

For the first time ever I actually had very little to do with the concept of this video… I just left it in the very safe hands of my old school friend’s company – Lovelove Films – who did our stunning video for In Your Head in 2012. I am so astounded by how well Lovelove put together this video: I gave them an almost impossible task of coming up with a video along the theme of ‘paper world’ in 3 weeks and they came through with not only flying colours but a stunning video! Right from day one I they were sending me amazing concepts and treatments which I loved then before we knew it the band was filming in the studio which was the most fun I have had on any shoot. Just over a week later they have delivered an original, exciting and completely ‘on brand’ video that I can’t wait to show the world. Thank you Lovelove – you’ve done it again… I can’t wait for the next time now!

Gabby Young with candles

As for the actual song – every one of my songs is written differently – some come to me, others have to be written and this track was born out of necessity! I was working on all my songs and ideas for album 3 and realised I had focused too much on the shade and wanted to have lots of light in my album to make people feel good about life, dance and escape so I when driving along I tried to write an upbeat song, which very rarely works, in fact I hate TRYING to write songs but time was against me! So I just pressed record on my phone (in the safest way possible in a car!) and started singing the chorus – it instantly came to me and then the verse tumbled out – it was a complete song by the end of my short journey. When I returned home I ran into the house, grabbed my guitar and found out I had written another 2 chord song which I have done a few of in my time but I couldn’t help but develop a soft spot for this simple, fun ditty and decided that I found my light to all the shade and here is a bonafide album track ready to go! As for the lyrics – I had just been on tour in the Middle East, which I loved and where I learnt so much, so I knew I wanted to sing about how I was improving my world knowledge and how I have been a little sheltered and it’s time to wake up and notice the world around me.

Gabby Young

Gabby Young - One foot in front of the other

I’ve Improved and the album One Foot In Front Of The Other are both released in April on Gift of the Gab Records.

Categories ,album, ,Emma Farrarons, ,Gabby Young and Other Animals, ,Gift of the Gab Records, ,I’ve Improved, ,In Your Head, ,Lovelove Films, ,One Foot In Front Of The Other, ,single, ,Stephen Ellis, ,video

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Amelia’s Magazine | Larmer Tree Festival 2011 Review, Saturday: Stornoway, Gabby Young, Caitlin Rose and Mud!

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Gabby Young and Stephen Ellis
Gabby Young and Stephen Ellis at Larmer Tree. All photography by Amelia Gregory.

By Saturday the rain had well and truly settled in at Larmer Tree Festival and it was quite a struggle to get out of the tent.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Bane Joe Bone
Our first stop was Daytime Club Larmer for the second part of Bane, thumb which was equally as much fun as the first episode. Apparently there is a third one kicking about too and if you are going to Secret Garden Party this weekend then you will get a chance to see it! Well jel.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Chameleon by Fiona Campbell
Overnight a host of art installations had sprung up around the Larmer Tree Gardens, page including this magical bottle top Chameleon by Fiona Campbell

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review The Thatcher and The Peacock by Simon SinkinsonLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review The Thatcher and The Peacock by Simon SinkinsonLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review The Thatcher and The Peacock by Simon SinkinsonLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review The Thatcher and The Peacock by Simon Sinkinson
…and a peacock hut inspired by a poem called The Thatcher and The Peacock by Simon Sinkinson, a tale of a poor boy who asks the advice of a peacock on how to win the heart of the girl he loves. How? Under the Larmer Tree of course! Simon is a thatcher as well as an artist, and he was also responsible for the ten hidden miniature woodland doorways dotted around the site. Sadly I didn’t find any myself.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Mis(Guided) Protest by Fuse
At the Mis(Guided) Protest by Fuse these girls were bearing placards with slogans such as Processed Cheese, Yes Please and Bunting for All Ages. Worth protesting for I’m sure you’ll agree. I do find it intriguing that protest has become ripe for artistic intervention – wherein ‘revolutionary rhetoric’ is rendered utterly banal.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Gary Stewart duetting with Rosie Doonan
The Oxjam stage was hosting an open mic when we wandered in and I caught the tail end of Scottish singer songwriter Gary Stewart duetting with Rosie Doonan (I sadly missed her own slot). Beautiful folk harmonies, and great yellow wellies!

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Pete LawrieLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review Pete Lawrie
Pete Lawrie is a Cardiff based singer songwriter who nearly played on my Climate Camp stage at Glastonbury last year but had to pull out with a throat infection at the last minute, so I was excited to finally hear him properly. Since then he’s released an album and gained an enthusiastic following for his soulful singalong folk. His easy banter explained the premise of songs, including one dedicated to all those who’ve worked in shit jobs at petrol stations. At this show it was really brought home to me just how impossible it is to place a sound anymore – he may be Welsh but Pete’s music, as with most musicians now, boasts a host of international influences.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Caitlin RoseLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review Caitlin RoseLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review Caitlin Rose
On the Garden Stage Nashville born Caitlin Rose lucked out with a bit of brilliant sunshine for her lush country-influenced tales of love and loss. Americana never sounded so good: I particularly loved the laid back dude on the steel pedals. Read our interview with Caitlin Rose.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 reviewLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review artLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review Flowerpot men
I’m not sure if the Bill and Ben Flowerpot Men were meant to be performance art or extreme fancy dress but who cares when they look this fab?!

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Wishing TreeLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review Wishing Tree
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Wishing Tree
Over at the Wishing Tree I took a few moments to read through the fabric wishes. The most striking thing was the amount of wishes that children should grow up to be healthy and happy – another indication of the demographic at this family friendly festival.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Moustache on a Stick
A festival favourite: Moustache on a Stick.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Gabby Young
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Stephen Ellis
Gabby Young by Gilly Rochester
Gabby Young by Gilly Rochester.

Gabby Young was accompanied by boyfriend Stephen Ellis at the ARC, dressed, as usual, with impeccable style (with a little help from Amelia’s Magazine contributor Katie Antoniou – the lilac striped dress cost £7 on ebay). Her opera trained voice sounded as beautiful as ever, and she closed the set by leading the captivated crowd in a rousing singalong of We’re All In This Together. This was Gabby’s only festival appearance this summer because she’s busy working on a new album. Very excited about that.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Mark KermodeLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Mark KermodeLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Mark Kermode
Film critic Mark Kermode performed some well arranged covers and plenty of old sounding new songs with his band The Dodge Brothers for the early evening slot at the Garden Stage, entertainment geared towards those who had dressed up for the 50s themed fancy dress parade.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Stornoway
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Stornoway
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Stornoway
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Stornoway
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Stornoway
But it was Stornoway that I was most looking forward to on Saturday (read our pre-Larmer Tree interview) and they didn’t disappoint. Classic tunes such as Zorbing and Here Comes the Blackout from album Beachcomber’s Windowsill were played with great gusto – the guest violinist perched like a mascot at the top of the stage. Stornoway manage that masterful trick of combining folk elements and great song writing to create a new and instantly recognisable sound of their own.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Stornoway
Stornoway by Meg McCarthy
Stornoway by Meg McCarthy.

Lead singer Brian Briggs had a slightly deadpan style of banter so it took me awhile to understand his comment about picking up two small buoys from a Stornoway beach to include in their act. What I hadn’t anticipated, climbing into the photographer’s pit, was just what a boyband Stornoway are. The audience was a sea of screaming teenage girls disappearing into the horizon… and they all seemed to want one particular band member: ever so cute drummer ROBBIEEEEEEE, owner of the aforementioned buoys and brother of equally cute guitarist Oli Steadman. The signing tent afterwards was a seething mass of prepubescent excitement that any sane adults had clearly balked at joining.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Stornoway
For the finale Stornoway released a couple of giant Prisoner-esque white balloons into the audience to bounce about over our heads. The band liked one of my twitpics so much that they posted it on their website. A wonderful set and one of my festival highlights.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Vieux Farka Touré
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Vieux Farka Touré
Over at the Big Top the ever so smiley Vieux Farka Touré finally took to the stage for his delayed performance (passport problem apparently). He’s an exceptionally gifted guitarist from Mali… the son of renowned musician Ali Farka Touré, and purveyor of that unique Mali sound: an adept blend of Western rock riffs and traditional African beats that have given him the moniker of the African Jimi Hendrix. Best of all Vieux Farka Touré was totally laid back and made it all look so utterly simple to play the guitar with such skill. Maybe not quite so rock and roll then! His drummer looked about 12 years old but played an amazing beatdown on a large halved gourd for the encore.

From the back of the packed main stage we caught the tail end of Asian Dub Foundation, who provided a suitably energetic party vibe for Saturday night.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Iain Stirling
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Gareth Richards
Finally we headed back to the ARC for our daily dose of comedy, compered by kid’s TV presenter Iain Stirling. Gareth Richards attracted some drunken heckles, which he bashed off admirably… but I have to say they weren’t totally undeserved. Mediocre.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Arthur Smith
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Arthur Smith
Headline act was ‘old git’ Arthur Smith, who did a sturdy routine of well rehearsed classic one-liners before ending the show with his pants down.

Don’t forget to check out my Thursday review of Larmer Tree and my Friday review of Larmer Tree too.

Categories ,50s, ,African Jimi Hendrix, ,Ali Farka Toure, ,ARC, ,Arthur Smith, ,Asian Dub Foundation, ,Bane, ,Beachcomber’s Windowsill, ,Big Top, ,Bill and Ben Flowerpot Men, ,Brian Briggs, ,Buoys, ,Caitlin Rose, ,cardiff, ,Chameleon, ,comedy, ,country, ,Daytime Club Larmer, ,Fancy Dress, ,Fiona Campbell, ,folk, ,gabby young, ,Garden Stage, ,Gareth Richards, ,Gary Stewart, ,Gilly Rochester, ,Iain Stirling, ,Katie Antoniou, ,Mali, ,Mark Kermode, ,Meg McCarthy, ,Mis(Guided) Protest by Fuse, ,Moustache on a Stick, ,Nashville, ,Old Git, ,Oli Steadman, ,Oxjam, ,Pete Lawrie, ,rock, ,Rosie Doonan, ,Simon Sinkinson, ,Stephen Ellis, ,Stornoway, ,The Dodge Brothers, ,The Prisoner, ,The Thatcher and The Peacock, ,Vieux Farka Toure, ,Wishing Tree

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Amelia’s Magazine | Gabby Young describes the making of the video for new single Walk Away

Gabby Young By Eleanor Ballard
Gabby Young by Eleanor Ballard.

Walk Away is a ballad from Gabby Young‘s wonderful new album The Band Called Out For Me. Here the trained opera singer and songwriter extraordinaire describes the story behind the tune and the making of the beautifully simple but emotionally charged video that accompanies it.

Gabby-on-the-heath-by Gem Hall
Gabby Young by Sarah Wharton
Gabby Young by Sarah Wharton.

Okay so Walk Away is a song about my dad, about how I wanted him to walk away from things that were draining all his energy and taking advantage of his generosity as he had just discovered a tumour on his brain and the whole family really wanted him to concentrate on getting better and keeping up his strength to do so. I woke up at 6am, sat down at the piano, pressed record on my iphone and the song was born. In 6 minutes I was back in bed knowing I had written exactly what I wanted to say to my dad. The great news is it worked- when I played him a rough demo, we got a bit emotional together and it really struck a chord home, in fact it became a bit of a in joke in the family and we would sing the chorus everytime someone was doing something we thought was a bad idea!

YouTube Preview Image

Stephen Ellis, my boyfriend, writing partner, guitarist and producer of the new album came up with a beautiful concept of dad being in the video and pieced together the simple idea of me being like a voice in his head but him syncing the words. We are an independent label and very DIY so we had basically no budget so we wanted to keep it simple and beautiful. Saul was the perfect choice to film it as not only is he a great friend but a hugely talented photographer who has taken some of the most iconic images of me and I knew he would approach this video delicately and make the aesthetic interesting, luckily he was up for doing this one and in the end the only money spent was on hair and makeup for Laura Kingma who I found through twitter the day before as the original MUA was ill!!! She did an amazing job and I loved working with her. Stephen directed the whole thing and I couldn’t be happier with his work on this. I loved working with the whole team- it felt like a family affair and Gem Hall, our official band photographer, was also there capturing it all, including a mini photoshoot with me for the single cover too also Paul, the band’s tuba player was helping with holding up lyrics to cue my dad (he had learnt them well but we all need a little cue!)- a great team. It was especially wonderful to have my dad there- he was so professional and now we all want him to be an actor- I definitely got emotional on and off the camera but I feel that gave it a nice effect so I didn’t push it away.

Gabby Young‘s new album The Band Called Out For Me is out now, available from her website.

Categories ,Eleanor Ballard, ,gabby young, ,Gem Hall, ,Laura Kingma, ,Revere, ,Sarah Wharton, ,Stephen Ellis, ,The Band Called Out For Me, ,video, ,Walk Away

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