Written by Louis Pelingen
Constraints can be a demotivator towards an artist’s own journey towards creation, whether that be due to the limitations that they’ve struggled through either the environment that they’re in during a specific point of time, the collaborations with other creatives that need a specific amount of mutual understanding to follow through their output, or the sudden frustrations within one’s own capability as an artist. Because whether reasons that may be, the one thing that an artist wants as they grow older is to let go of the stirring process to create and allow that spontaneous liberties to flow through; allowing them to be at ease in every step of the creative process just to make something that still shows that they still got it.
After 2 years of going through creative frustrations himself, Gabba Santiago of Instrumental post-rock and prog-rock band Deb & Gabba (FKA Tom’s Story) takes a different tact towards creating his solo debut album, where his process for collaboration and composition has a lot more free rein that allows for a lot of creative liberties. A kind of tact that treats the making of music more as an expression of Gabba’s own imaginative spirit with a lot of casual, back-and-forth exchanges with his collaborators as well as letting his creative mind do the talking when it’s time for him to make the melodies in this record. Letting spontaneous ideas bubble up rather than leaning into a calculated mode of music-making.
It circulates all in ‘Recollections’ being an album that celebrates Gabba’s personal freeing joy in creating music as well as serving as a sonic diaristic journey towards his life experiences. And true to its name, the album does have a lot of blends in terms of tones, dynamics, and textures that lay into Gabba’s technical musicianship and the collaborations that helped along with the project. The Math Rock riffs and pulsating rhythms of ‘Overcurrent’ and ‘Puzzle’ swivel through the post-rock sensibilities, not breaking them apart as the added presence of synthesizers as well as Clara Benin’s vocals on a couple of songs makes a lot of those fiery guitar and drum patterns to be a lot more comforting and loose. The same thing goes for ‘Woodcraft’ with the Saxophone playing by Miguel Jimenez with its calming tone that eventually accompanies the soaring progressions in the latter half of the song, the buzzy synth tones that slide around Bea Lao’s shuffling drum work on ‘Linear’, and the frenetic drum patterns that drive around the low-key atmosphere of ‘Paradigm’.
While the record presents a lot of calming soundscapes all throughout the record, Gabba also embraces a lot of progressive rock swerves that allow his joy to be immense in scope. The crashing drums and expressive guitar riffings of ‘Zoomies’ certainly do their work, especially with its brief 2-minute runtime. And the distorted guitar tones that are present on ‘Fury’ and ‘Coastline’ certainly end the record on a high note where the former song imbues the unwinding melodies with an erupting edge, all with crumbling riffs and sneering noise; the latter song sweeps the meditative melodies and mix with the echoing guitars letting out one more emotive charge just before it calms down in the end, the eventual calm after the storm.
It certainly has a lot to offer given the amount of tones, collaborations, and textures that are sewn into this record and Gabba certainly had a lot of fun making this in the studio, but there are some issues that can either be distracting or underwhelming. On the former instance, it’s mostly towards the mixing of the record, where a lot of the drum and guitar fidelities can sound haphazard from track to track even if it makes sense due to the composed feel that this record is providing, but it can still be quite the frustration every time it pops up. And on the latter instance, there are certain experimentations on the additions of sound that could’ve been implemented into these songs a lot better, as some of the synth and vocal implementations are there for fleeting texture rather than adding a lot more to the melodies of these songs as well as the fuzzy drum machines that may add a different tone from the organic percussions laced throughout the record but can sound flimsy than it should be.
The shorter interludes like ‘Goofy’ and ‘Layout’ don’t do much in the tracklist at all with their repeating motifs that only thin out in the end. ‘Fridge Magnets’, ‘Quiver’, and ‘Interim’ also have their weak spots, where the progressions that settle into that calming atmosphere don’t open up into intriguing transitions or switch-ups alongside texture over melody soundscapes make them sound unremarkable than the others. And then there is ‘Here Now’ where despite the presence of the keys and the electronica that tilt at the end of the song, it’s one of the instances where that lilting presence ends up being a bit more hamfisted as a result.
Gabba’s solo debut is an effort that shows a lot of strengths as a result of him finding a freeing process of making music, sharing ideas with his collaborators in a much more casual manner, and letting the music be a celebration and an inspiration for himself and for others as well. It may be a collection of songs that have their high points and low points, though it also pretty much feels like reading through a diary where you’re able to see how that person is going through, joys and frustrations and all. While it is frustrating at a few spots due to the haphazard mix, meager sonic implementation, and bland melodies, to hear Gabba feeling a lot more joyous and explorative within the record through the amount of variety of sounds and styles does shine through a lot. A starting point for sure, “Recollections” is a record that’s led to its highs rather than lows.
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