Gizelle Smith “Revealing” (Jalapeno Records)

Gizelle Smith
“Revealing”
(Jalapeno Records – 2021)

I must say, this is not a review but more of a fan-mail to someone I shared the stage with a long time ago. Seeing Gizelle grow (and change) as an artist over the years just makes me happy, even only from a distance. I know nothing about her feelings, inner conflicts and such. I do not understand all of her lyrics. But I sure do get the message. No doubt everybody with a certain amount of love/trouble in his/her life can reveal it by listening.

Besides Gizelle´s emotional, soulful performance, it´s the daring songwriting and production that kept me from skipping any of the 9 songs on this album. Embracing pop/rock elements, singer/songwriter approach, lush instrumentation and modern groove concepts, this album is far from being a classic raw and dirty Funk LP you´d expect from Gizelle 10 years ago (but don´t worry, you can still dance to it, if you want to).

„A testament of growth, personal freedom and maturity“ (Jalapeno Records infotext) – yeah correct, but why so serious? This almost sounds like an epitaph!

To me, „Revealing“ ain´t the climax of Gizelle´s career, it seems more like a first playful venture out into the world of great experimental pop, revealing even more of her potential, leaving the listener in anticipation of the next Gizelle Smith Album. This, again, is just silly fan-mail.

David Nesselhauf