gilli moon and I go back to the mid-to-late 1990s, just before she headed Stateside, her involvement with songsalive, and my retirement from community radio. We had a great chat during one of her Christmas visits, and I was part of the promotion of her “Temperamental Angel“ (2001) and “Woman” (2003) records. While I might have moved on, gilli has been working harder than ever in polymedia, on five more solo albums and other collaborations, and as label CEO (chief empowerment officer), manager, mentor, publisher, podcaster, and mum.
“Girl on the Moon” set gilli up as an enigma: the music industry didn’t quite know what to make of her “ahead of its time” debut studio album. Sultry, soothing, rockin’, and movin’ with a display of an incredible vocal range, this fourteen-song record launched a career that continues to earn accolades from critics everywhere and create and redefine music genres. Through “Angel” and “Woman” she swung maniacally between moods and muses while fiercely maintaining her artistic ingenuity, indie street-cred, and intensely serious music making ideas.
“extraOrdinary Life” is as close to Tori Amos as you can get without being Tori with my standout Coming Undone combining Tori, diana Ah naid, and Shirley Manson/Garbage in gilli’s inimitable style. Spaceship also leaps out as, initially, a stripped-back and emotional recollection of a passed relationship that built strongly in the hope that, once good could be again. Rachel Gaudry comes to mind when listening to this one. Followed by Bye Is Such A Lonely Word; sultry, summery, calypso/latin styled like Tina Arena’s Sorrento Moon. Listening to gilli’s work is an amazing adventure!
gilli took a hiatus (an hiatus?) over the next few years, releasing “The Stillness” in June 2010 and “Refresh” at the end of 2018. “Stillness“ was quite different to what she had done to that point, with a change in vocal style and a much more laid-back approach across the board. November was, for mine, the stand-out from this collection, which also featured as an early track on “Refresh”. I found myself going back to the statistician on this one, wondering if I had heard it before, or if I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should. Turns out “Refresh” was sold as a best-of / retrospective, with gilli’s version of the InXS hit Need You Tonight featuring highly.
Through that break, gilli appeared on J.Walker’s single “Groovy Love” in September 2015 and put out another couple of singles: “Chemistry” in September 2019, and “Merry Christmas My Love“ two months later. In return, Mr.Walker appeared on a number of tracks on gilli’s last couple of records as well. After all, what is a life-partnership if you can’t collaborate on each other’s work?
And with the world on hold for the foreseeable future gilli, like many in creative arts, and the world as a whole, has had enough! “The Wait“ is her response to the whole pandemic thing but, thankfully, also a prelude to her first full-length album in eighteen months. We’ll look at “The Wait“ as a new-music review over at my OriginalRock.net page because new work deserves to be brought to more people’s attention! Not that a retrospective isn’t important: I feel this more effectively sets the tone for what we can expect, and builds anticipation for the pending product.
Can’t wait!
PG (Jacky) Gleeson
15 August 2020
