Chicago artist Gia Margaret follows up her exquisite 2018 debut full-length, There’s Always Glimmer (one of the best records of that year), with something a bit unexpected: a beautifully meditative and soothing ambient album, born from a trying period in Gia’s life after the release and subsequent success of Glimmer. When an illness left her unable to sing for the better part of a year, forcing her to cancel all of her tours, Gia began experimenting with instrumental compositions — mostly synth and piano, with various found sounds and field recordings — as sort of an experiment in music as therapy. “These compositions helped me hold onto my identity as a music maker,” Gia explains, adding, “At times this music helped soothe my anxiety more than therapy or anything else could…I wanted to make something that sounded hopeful, which is a little ironic because I felt essentially hopeless during the entire process. I was making music to self-soothe.”
The result is a glowing, warmly emotional, and gently cathartic collection of songs that not only eased Gia through her own journey of self-healing, but sort of takes on a new level of relatability and gravity as we all try to navigate these scary uncertain times. “I wanted to capture the feeling of a truly strange time in my life, even though I would prefer to forget it altogether,” she says. “This process helped me understand something about myself, & hopefully it can help others, too.” We’re delighted and honored to premiere the first two tracks from the album — the daydream-like opener “Apathy“, featuring an excerpt from Gia’s vocal therapy exercises, and “Body“, which samples a bit of freeing wisdom from Alan Watts — here today. Mia Gargaret is out June 12th via Orindal in North America & Dalliance Recordings for the rest of the world, with a limited vinyl run to follow later this summer.
(from gorillavsbear premiere piece)