Gabriels

One of the year’s most exciting live acts has announced a pair of surprise shows in London in November. Gabriels, whose 2020 track ‘Love and Hate in a Different Time’ was described by Elton John as “one of the most seminal records I’ve heard in the last ten years”, will play Below Stone Nest in Covent Garden this week.

Violins, piano and double bass form the crux of the LA outfit’s contemporary soul sound — which harks back to classic Motown and R&B records of decades gone by. But it is frontman Jacob Lusk, a mercurial gospel singer and choir director who was once a contestant on American Idol, who provides the trio’s focal point. His powerful vocals have already earned comparisons to Cee-Lo Green and Antony & The Johnsons’ Anohni (formerly Antony Hegarty).

The hype around the band was made evident in October after Gabriels played their first public show in the UK at The Social, with footage from the performance going viral on Twitter. The show capped off a memorable summer for the newcomers — after appearing on Jools Holland in June, in what was one of their first-ever live performances, they signed to Elektra Records in August, home of seminal albums such as Love’s ‘Forever Changes’, MC5’s ‘Kick Out The Jams’ and The Doors’ ‘LA Woman’.

Gabriels perform at Below Stone Nest in central London on November 2nd and 3rd, 2021.