Kyle's Hall of Fame

Gabriel
Lamb

Why?

As I've said before, my early musical experience came nearly entirely from my dad's collection. Although most of my time was spent with basic alternative artists a la my 'four core bands', there were other artists in the bunch that served as my introduction to new genres. For rap, there was the Gorillaz. For reggae, Matisyahu. For jazz, Zero 7. And then there was Enigma, a genre of its own.

Lamb was one of the artists with which my lasting affinity for electronic music emerged. It was with their album What Sound that I first became deeply fascinated with the potential of artificial instruments and synthetic sounds. As usual, my favorite from the bunch was the most mellow, trading the voltaic compositions of other tracks for something raw, but just as impassioned. Although I've always strongly felt God's love come to me through music, "Gabriel" tied the art form to my faith more directly than any song had before.

Gabriel, literally meaning "man of God", is one of the Bible's few named angels, and also the most prominent among them. It was he who was chosen to announce the birth of Christ to the virgin Mary. In the context of this song, I've always considered his name symbolic of any person one might call their 'guardian angel' - Christ, a mother, a father, an older sibling, or, perhaps most accurately in this case, a lover. Yes, in my mind, it all amounts to a love song, but not your typical love song. It's about an innocent love, a sort of agape, an adoration not desirous of sensuality, but of solidarity, of faith-filled harmony. The singer, confident, but not without insecurities, wants nothing more than to be with her love because of the strength she gleans from him. She thinks so highly of this 'Gabriel' as to be convinced that God Himself sent him to her. Given the religious overtones at play, I can't help but conclude that it is because of his righteousness and I like to think that he cares deeply for her in return because it's clear they've been together for a long time. When the two are united, they are unbreakable.

Here are the lyrics:

I can fly,

But I want his wings.

I can shine even in the darkness,

But I crave the light that he brings,

Revel in the songs that he sings,

My angel Gabriel.

I can love,

But I need his heart.

I am strong even on my own,

But from him I never want to part.

He's been there since the very start.

My angel Gabriel.

Bless the day he came to be.

Angel's wings carried him to me,

Heavenly.

I can fly,

But I want his wings.

I can shine even in the darkness,

But I crave the light that he brings,

Revel in the songs that he sings,

My angel Gabriel...

I particularly like "I am strong even on my own, but from him I never want to part."

Of course, no song's meaning is all that meaningful without a strong composition at the core, and that is where "Gabriel" really shines. A soft, moving mix of piano and acoustic guitar carries us through the piece, both gradually disappearing as other sounds rise. A rather heavy percussion rhythm joins in, but it's not disruptive; a nice juxtaposition develops between this element and what we started with. Once the moving orchestral arrangement arrives, all of these sounds crescendo magnificently in the fairly noisy climax, though all remains remarkably serene even in the loudest moments. A guitar-centric section marks the start of our decline, where Lou Rhodes' vocals grow more desperate until nothing but the strings are left.

Here's the song on its own: