‘Take a walk in my shoes, you might feel my pain’.
So opines Gabriel (Gabe) Mannikin on the titular first track of his debut album ‘Hard Feelings’. As an opening hand it’s pretty much a downer and you would be forgiven for expecting a torrid and depressing listen from here on in.
Not so. That said, its sentiment does sit uncannily well with his vocal delivery: a deep throaty hang-dog growl that puts me in mind of a couple of Lees - Marvin and Hazlewood.
The resignation of his voice belies his relative youth (he’s only 27). However, given the demons he’s wrestled in his time - death, addiction and heartache just for starters – it’s to his credit that he never allows them to overcome the music or make our listening a chore.
Whilst the lyrical thrust of his songs ere predominantly towards the dark side of life, the musical arrangements are far less monochrome. Folk and country patterns merge seamlessly, often with a strong, rhythmic and melodious quality. But this is the roots/rock variety of North American country and Gabe cites Steve Earle and Bonnie Raitt as key influences.
Pay closer attention to the lyrics and vocal delivery and you also sense that despite his trials and tribulations, there resides within Gabe a satisfying streak of gallows humour to temper the maudlin surface. At times his style is whimsical as on ‘Where’s My Tea?’ on which he laments, ‘I woke up early this morning/ noticed something wrong / There was no tea in my cupboard / so I wrote this song / Where’s my tea?’
Elsewhere, as on ‘Why’ - where that Droopy vocal delivery really works effectively – the wry delivery masks a darker subject: ‘Why am I so unhappy? / And why do I feel so crappy? / Is it something to do with what’s in my mind? / Is it something to do with this disease of mine?’ The self questioning is accompanied by some suitably drowsy trombone and brass to elevate the atypical folk/country playing. I’m also convinced that ‘Why’ is the long-lost B-Side to ‘Wandrin’ Star’!
As the album progresses other deep, sonorous singers spring to mind. I’m reminded of the deadpan delivery of Stephin Merrit or the Lynch-ian crooning of Nick Cave; even Mark Lanegan is in there. It’s testament to Gabe’s virtuosity and skill that he never sounds like he’s mimicking any of these more established artists. He uses his voice to great effect and possesses sufficient self-awareness to know how to create a suitable musical setting with which to complement or juxtapose its impact.
Gabe hails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and ‘Hard Feelings’ is his first solo outing. Currently without a record deal the album is self produced and released. He’s already served time with The Guthries, a band lauded by Uncut as far back as 2000 (awarding their debut album ‘Off Windmill’ a respectable 4 stars).
It seems that The Guthries have now disbanded but on this outing he’s joined on all tracks, bar one, by sister and fellow Guthries’ member, Ruth Minnikin, a solo singer/songwriter in her own right.
Indeed, the vocal interplay of these siblings is a cornerstone of the album. At times it’s reminiscent of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris (‘Close To Me’, ‘The Worst Shot’) but on other tracks it evokes Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra (‘Cloud Ten’).
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Most songs and musical accompaniments work well around that voice, but when he plays it straight - lyrically and emotionally - as on the second track ‘Lullaby’, he is less successful in marrying its rich timbre with the nursery rhyme arrangements. In fact he sounds positively awkward, stumbling over lines such as, ‘I’ll be right here / holding you tight / Be the first one you see / if you wake up tonight’.
It’s a shame because it is a beautiful song and in the hands of someone like Richard Hawley (whose musical styling it resembles) it would have worked a treat.
A slight blot on the copybook then, but one that is too small to detract from the overall impact of the album. Luckily, Gabe is more than a one-trick pony.
Having established a robust musical template in the first half of the album Gabe plays against type and raises the bar (and my eyebrow) by offering other successful backdrops for his voice.
‘Train Wreck’ comes on like Parsons’ ‘Ooh Las Vegas’. ‘Nothing Left’ – one of the album’s atmospheric highlights – is a monstrously deep swamp-folk ballad that provides almost the ideal blueprint for Gabe’s growl. ‘Blinking Heavy’ is this album’s curveball gem, being nothing more than a great little pop song, while the closing track, ‘What Went Wrong’, builds from piano and violin to full band and is the album’s big heartbreak and heartache song.
Gabe’s greatest gift is his voice and he possesses sufficient musical wherewithal to give it a wider sound canvas than one would perhaps expect possible. In the hands of a weaker artist it would, at best, sound like pastiche and, at worst, just plain monotonous.
If there is one nagging doubt it is that I suspect he is still holding back on fully expressing his vocal ability, maybe at this stage lacking the total confidence to take his rightful place in the spot-light.
Overall though, he has fashioned a fine debut that promises much for the future. The only question is whether he continues to allow himself the freedom to cast his voice in as wide a musical net as he has done on ‘Hard Feelings’ or whether he will decide to limit himself to a straighter line.
Either way I hope he gets snapped up by a sympathetic record label that can give him the space and the exposure he (and we) deserve.
www.gabeminnikin.com.
On tour in the UK in September and October.
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