Gabriels

Director Ryan Hope and multi-instrumentalist Ari Balouzian were looking for a choir for an advert in 2016. Along the way they got to know Jacob Lusk: choir leader and owner of a heavenly soul voice. He had been a backing singer for Beck and Diana Ross and came fifth in American Idol 2011. The trio started cooking up gospel, jazz and R&B and created one wondrous song after the other. Standouts like ‘Blame’ and ‘Love and Hate in a Different Time’ are exuberant in a restrained way. Less with more. Gabriels came up with the label ‘future soul’. ‘Salve for the soul’ is another way to describe it. On the album ‘Angels & Queens’ (2022), producer Sounwave (Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar) has pulled out a surprising number of stops. But even with this lavish sonic backdrop, the magic works perfectly. The revelation of the year…