Atmospheric Dream-Pop quartet Billie Gale is a musical monument to songwriter Beth Garber's late mother.
Billie Gale, the woman, was a classic feminist, a combination of soft and strong, and the band that bears her name shares this intense duality. The band's enveloping shoegaze textures blanket singer and primary songwriter Beth Garber's boldly vulnerable lyrical outcries.
Through the submergence of transcendent measures that swing us into a dreamland of deluxe illusions, Billie Gale delivers the fortified single, "Pools." With a reverberated soundscape that is saturated in unearthly harmonies, the heavenly vocals float amongst you as you effortlessly drift off to cloud-nine. A striking combination of enthralling ease has your inner being filled with a landslide of gripping emotion as you proceed through the lush sounds offered in this masterpiece.
There is more to "Pools" than the tried and true elements of Pop music. Although touching on Pop-infused elements, this composition swims in opulent layered guitars, airy synths, and cathedral rhythmic tenors. The vocalization's delicate trickles get cast onto the instrumentation in a graceful momentum of a fortified structure. You shouldn't be fooled by the gentle roars. The impactful manner in which the vocals are performed with conviction is the most daunting trait of all.
Sailing through robust consistencies of sonic goodness to evoke a colossal ambiance in a hollow of orchestrated clandestine, Billie Gale immerses their audience in thought-provoking lyrical content that is abstract in writing style. Clinging onto the deeper meanings that you search for, Billie Gale has you exposed to their unique approach of creating otherworldly atmospheric bliss.
What does this song mean to you as a band and what are you hoping your listeners take away from it?
Thanks! "Pools" was inspired by a book by Craig Childs called "The Secret Knowledge of Water." It's one of those books for me that has every other page dog-eared. Childs describes his relationship with water as a researcher who treks through the desert and creates water maps in seemingly desolate places. "There are two ways to die in the desert," he explains, "By thirst or by drowning." I've had lines from this book pop into my head years after reading it, because his descriptions are so emotional and poetic, and because his images reflect something very true about my inner life. When I wrote the song I was dealing with extreme, chronic anxiety and was really trying to block out the negative internal dialogue of every day, just to escape myself. My inner world was feeling very desolate and dangerous, and I was intent on distraction. Childs explains: "The only way to get across [the desert] is to have the sole intention of finding water." Writing "Pools," helped me explain this idea to myself, that the only way out is in. In the song, I say "dig down, call it back, my artifact of water deep." I could picture myself in a desert, with nothing to drown out the cacophony of doom-filled voices except something deep underneath. I would have to wade through until those voices wore themselves out. Songwriting for me is just a way for me to exercise realizations like this one, and "Pools" became a story I could tell myself, of searching out life underneath all the noise of doom or desolation.
Could you please share a glimpse of the creative and recording process that brought “Pools,” to the ears of listeners?
I wrote this song pretty quickly compared to others. I didn't want to overthink it. Musically I was referencing David Bazan in the way he uses a progression to create room for a linear story through lyrics. Once I had a structure I brought the song to the band and for the first time ever, the song just fell into place. It quickly became our favorite song to play because we could all just ride it out, it's a very fun song to play. Adam (guitar) creates this sea of sound, we all just kind of float through. I love all the bass textures and melodies Eric added, and the drums are very Bazan, steady, and driving. We were excited to record this one, and we did it up in Portland at Hallowed Halls. Brandon Eggleston (Wye Oak, The Mountain Goats) recorded our EP and we love working with him. He set up a wide-open space for us to live track and we're so happy with how it turned out.
How does this single hold up to other bodies of work that we can hear in your catalog?
"Pools" is a different song for us because it's not a slow burn like a lot of our music. Most of our music is a steady build from low lows to extreme highs. This song takes off from the start and ebbs and flows, but we really ride it out in a way that feels so natural.
As a band, what happens to be your proudest career moment to date?
I think we'd all agree that one of our proudest moments was playing Noise Pop last year with Califone. Playing with a band that has so much musical and lyrical maturity, so much experience and depth, it was just so inspiring to feel a part of it. It's the greatest accomplishment to share what you've created with someone you admire, and we admire them deeply. I came away from that night feeling really motivated to work toward having more nights like it.
What would you like new listeners to know about the band and the music that you create?
The music we create is extremely introspective because each of us is really thought-filled people. This single is an exciting release because we've created more of a balance between our deeply thoughtful side and our need to not overthink. It's a song that makes us move, it takes off, and then we don't need to think about it at all, we just get to live in it. I think that desire is what's led each of us to create music. We want to create a space where we can both explore and escape our internal worlds.
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