“Spurred on by anger I / Ruffle and strut like / A turkey, I am dancing / Into my own death / I am laughing / And clutching my / Independence.” So opens ‘Restore’, a song from the latest Gabby’s World full-length GABBY SWORD released via Carrot All Records, in lines which come to hold real significance. A mainstay of the independent music scene for the past decade and more, Gabby Smith has recorded under a number of monikers over the years, their project morphing along with an ongoing process of personal and artistic growth. As though only in shedding the weight of the past and all its associated baggage can a person create with authenticity. In this way, dancing into death is not some fatalistic act of self-destruction, but rather an attempt to reclaim oneself from expectations. To exist on your terms alone. As ‘Restore’ concludes: “The patterns once concealed / Are beginning to be revealed / As I restore you disappear.”
In this way, GABBY SWORD lives up to its title. A record to be wielded against previous iterations. To clear the ground for new growth. Smith’s work has always stood out in its honesty and vulnerability, but aided by collaborator and spouse Barrie Lindsay (AKA Barrie), the new material is more forthright in nature. More succinct in its path to the truth. Smith first took on the name Gabby’s World for 2018’s Beast on Beast, though if that album offered glimpses of the titular landscape, then GABBY SWORD is the first proper invitation to the listener to take a step inside.
I had the pleasure of asking Smith some questions about the record. Read on for a deep dive into its influences, imagery and accompanying visual art.
Thanks so much for speaking with us Gabby, and congratulations on the new record. You are no stranger to putting albums into the world, but is it fair to say the experience of releasing GABBY SWORD felt a little different?
Thanks so much for having me! Releasing this album definitely felt different in so many ways. First of all, I hadn’t released anything in quite a while. When my last album, Beast on Beast, came out in 2018, my life looked almost nothing like it does now. To name a few differences, I was living in Brooklyn, I had set personnel in my band, Gabby’s World was touring all the time, but also I was in undergrad full time. Now, I live in France half of the time and the other half wherever, I’m married, I’m out as queer, I don’t have a set band, and I haven’t toured Gabby’s World in a long time. It has felt really different to write and record under these new circumstances.
Also, over the past five years the music industry has shifted so dramatically! Ways of promoting oneself and touring and releasing and making money… it all looks totally different and it changed so quickly. So in response to all of these things, I decided to do an experiment. Instead of releasing music the usual way (maybe two or three singles and a full album release date), I put out one song each month for all of 2023. By December 1, the whole album was out.
I thought it would be a good idea to shake things up a bit and see if I could generate new interest in the project by making it feel like a subscription, but without the commitment or something. Fans could have something to look forward to every month and new listeners would have more opportunities to be exposed to the music.
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There’s a tangible sense of rebirth across the record, something which feels as hard won as it is affirming. As though previous versions or imitations of yourself had to be vanquished in order for something more truthful to finally break through. In many ways this feels like the first literal dispatch from Gabby’s World?
TOTALLY! That’s such a good way of putting it. Even though this is the second album under the moniker, I feel it’s a lot more representative of my taste, sonic palette, and decision-making.
Could we talk a little about the influence Barrie Lindsay had on this process and the record more generally? It’s interesting how something so inherently personal can owe so much to outside influence, and how different ways of seeing both music and the world can both break new ground and reveal older truths.
I think Barrie’s influence comes through in two major ways. The first is that she’s a profoundly good listener. This skill can manifest as an overall productive energy or as addressing something specific I’m trying to achieve. I can communicate a vibe or a really vague idea of what I’m going for and she’ll get it immediately, sending me off in the right direction. I can also have a really specific idea of what I want, like an exact drum sound or a particular synth sound, and she’s able to make it happen. She’s very skilled as a producer and musician and knows her way around her very organized library of sounds and plugins. It’s really cool and it makes exciting things happen in the studio.
The second way that Barrie influenced the record is her unique way of encouraging me to keep chasing my vision. Anytime I get off-track, she’s right there to gently nudge me back toward the goal, whether it’s in writing, producing, or overall career woes. I guess that’s also part of being such a good listener, but she is so motivating and motivated and it makes her a great person to work with.
She’s also an incredible visual artist. She took several of my press photos, co-directed and filmed some of the many music videos that accompanied this album, and produced even more videos and photo shoots throughout the album cycle. Barrie is amazing!
Has it been difficult, revealing a more intimate picture of yourself? Dropping a mask is often held as an empowering action, but of course there’s comfort in a certain level of concealment. There must be something daunting in songs like ‘Sank’ with its personal picture of grief, or the examination of identity on tracks like ‘Closing Door’?
My songwriting has always been pretty diaristic and felt revealing, but I think this album has a lot more straightforward language. Writing more directly was a challenge I set for myself, starting with when I wrote ‘Sank’. I tried to apply that ethos to all of the songs on the record as best I could. I think now I’m addicted to writing this way and would probably struggle to go back to my old, more cryptic ways!
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I have to ask about the title. A sword is both an object of attack and self-defense, as well as something with ceremonial weight. Could you speak a little on what it represents for you?
To begin with, it’s really easy to misread Gabby’s World as Gabby Sword, especially when it’s mashed together in a hyperlink, like “gabbysworld.” Oliver Kalb pointed that out to me and it made me laugh. I’ve kept it in my back pocket as an album title for years, pretty much since the project adopted the moniker.
Separately, my friend Luke Jenner once said that every artist is carrying around a metaphorical sword that they use to get ahead in their industry. He said that even if you think other musicians are your best friends, they’ve always got their sword ready on their person and are likely willing to use it against you if they have to. Even if they don’t mean you any harm, it’s just how one keeps their precarious position in the industry safe.
I don’t like that I see the merit in such a cynical approach to interacting with one’s peers, but it’s especially applicable in such a precarious industry as the music world. I see it come out sometimes in others in professional social situations and, admittedly, sometimes in myself, despite my best efforts. I think about it a lot when I’m navigating professional events and try to remember to leave my sword at home, or if I forget, in the green room.
Lastly, an album is such a powerful vehicle through which to announce who you are and what you’re about. The title GABBY SWORD is like, here I am, here is my sword that I poured all of my recent energies into. I’m going to use it to show you what I’m all about. It’s tangible and it’s the beginning of its legacy. If I ever had to own a sword, that would be its name.
Can we turn to the artwork a moment? It sometimes feels album art is neglected these days, often relegated to a thumbnail on a screen, so it’s always a pleasure to come across a record where the art feels such an intrinsic part of the release. I’d love to hear more about that side of things.
Part of the joy of releasing a song every month was that each one had to be accompanied by artwork. I had a blast figuring out the visual vibe of each song. I often felt so inspired that it led to several music videos to accompany the songs, way more than I expected to or than I’ve had on any previous albums.
I also had the pleasure of working and collaborating with so many visual artists whom I’ve come to admire over the past several years. I was just waiting to have a reason to reach out to them. One of those people was Allie Oldfield, who I’d been following on Instagram for a while, and who made a beautiful landscape illustration for “Powerful.” I ran into Zoë Greenway at SXSW last year who ended up making two of my favorite videos, for “33” and “Theme from Gabby’s World.” I’d always wanted an excuse to work with Sang Patten, Ginger Leigh Ryan, and Mae Stark, who photographed, made up, and styled me, respectively, for the photo shoot that I’ve used for a lot of the artwork and press. And, of course, it was such a treat to collaborate with Grace Weir, a true human multitool, who schemed with me on four music videos and the graphic design for most of the single art.
And lastly but most importantly, is Kirini O.K., my childhood best friend, who painted the album cover. We reconnected in the past few years and I was absolutely floored by the work she was making. She makes these hyper-realistic, absolutely stunning oil paintings. We worked together on the concept for the album cover and I could not believe what she made. It was way beyond my expectations. She’s such a genius and I’m so lucky to have gotten to work with her.
Do you know what the future looks like for Gabby’s World? Do you feel you have laid concrete foundations with this album, is change always going to be a part of the process?
The beauty of Gabby’s World is it’s reflective of whatever I’m going through and whatever I’m into at the moment. I hope to continue to change and grow and have that reflected in my work. What’s immediately next is focusing on a live show for a while. I haven’t gotten to perform Gabby’s World in a while and I’m really looking forward to it.
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GABBY SWORD is out now via Carrot All Records and available from the Gabby’s World Bandcamp page.
Photos by Sang Moon, album artwork by Kirini O.K