The Garden Dream. gglum

The Garden Dream is an album that does right to the band name Ella Smoker chose for herself: gglum. Even putting an extra emphasis on the start of the word. It represents how she felt when she started to create music for herself, at an age that many, if not all teenagers walk either with their heart on their sleeves or hide their emotions down deep afraid to show feelings, while both categories have a head filled with uncertainty, showing or hidden behind big mouths that strike again. The bright side is that most people live through this period of adolescence and find themselves and their way through life.

Ella Smoker has found a path, as her debut album is one that contains several outstanding songs. At 21 she shows a few sides of herself. There is the vulnerable singer, there's the tough indierocker with a distorted voice, the Boygenius bug, alternative dance-rock and the singer-songwriter in the Elliot Smith tradition. Musically she not afraid to show different sides as well. It makes The Garden Dream a varied album with enough to explore, digest and enjoy.

What stands out in most songs, is the atmospheric sounds that pop up and disappear. It makes listening to The Garden Dream an adventure. The little surprises that come by add no little to the album and gglum's impact on the listener.

Although, as far as I know, I had never heard of gglum before its single 'Do You See Me Differently?' featuring Kamal, there have been previous releases. Ella Smoker first came into view with 'Why Don't I Care?' released during the height of the pandemic.This was followed by two 8-track projects (the technique or the number of songs?) and this week with her first album. If anything, it shows that gglum is ready for the world to hear her songs.

With her teenage years behind her, she was ready to look back. Working with producer Karma Kid (Sam Knowles), together they created a musical work that allows any idea and concept to be followed and worked into the basic songs Ella Smoker had written in her bedroom. In most songs that basic idea of the songs can still be discerned. For some it's harder than others. With one exception, for me that is, all the studio versions work really, to extremely well.

The Garden Dream introduces gglum to a bigger part of the world and rightly so. Playing the music gglum does the world may well be ready for The Garden Dream as well. I was.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order The Garden Dream here:

https://gggglum.bandcamp.com/album/the-garden-dream