There are few artists more exciting than the ones capable of anything, and for established rock singer turned solo artist Gigi Gold, the possibilities are endless. “I walked into this project not knowing what I wanted it to be”, Gigi says, “but I think the beauty of it is not having a preconceived notion.” This is manifest in her upcoming ‘Souvenirs’ EP, her first release on Marshall Records: a blend of everything from modern folk to classic rock, at once familiar and exciting and stamped with her unmistakable style of self-searching lyrics.
Growing up in West Virginia, it wasn’t until Gigi moved to nearby Shepherdstown for college that she saw music that could belong to her. “Before that, the only music being made by teenagers was punk and hardcore, and there just weren’t any girls on stage. But then I moved for college to this tiny town, and all of a sudden, I saw all these women making music. There were loads of open mics, shows in bars and churches, and different kinds of music: rockabilly, folk, ambient, rock and roll. Pretty early on, I thought, ‘I can do this.’” From there, Gigi formed as many bands as she could, eventually meeting then-Gallows guitarist Steph Carter through a “chance online connection” that led to the pair forming two bands, The Ghost Riders in the Sky, and later Lyoness. While Steph and Gigi went on to be married, both these bands folded, leading Gigi to the decision to start her own project. “It’s allowed me to expand into territories I never could have in Lyoness”, she says, “and I’ve had to step forward into a level of confidence I never did before. I have to call all the shots by myself which can be overwhelming, but likewise, I have all this creativity and freedom to shape it into whatever I want it to be.”
Coming from a background of 60s and 70s rock, blended with more modern acts like The Kills or Lana Del Ray, Gigi’s music often unifies the most disparate elements of these two worlds. Gigi shows this best on ‘Hot Coals’, a subdued acoustic-led track flavoured with plaintive organ and haunting vocals that could equally be the work of PJ Harvey or Fleetwood Mac. Singing “I know what it feels like to burn alive”, Gigi explores humanity’s self-sabotaging nature. “It’s about that feeling that we can’t let go of something, even though it’s burning you”, she explains. ‘You’re the one causing your pain, you’re the one making your life difficult but it’s hard to stop self-sabotaging.” In comparison to her previous bands, there’s a level of subtlety, of dramatic dynamics that elevates Gigi beyond the standard sound of modern rock. “Lyoness was a riff rock band”, she says, “and everything we wrote fell into that category. By removing that sense of genre, it’s allowed things to flow more naturally.”
Perhaps the most striking element of Gigi’s music is her lyricism – sometimes diaristic, sometimes abstract, but always full of bold imagery. “My daily lyric writing process consists of listening to music I’ve never heard before and freewriting whatever it brings up in me”, Gigi explains. “It brings up a memory, or a thought, or something I’m currently dealing with, but it’s all my lived experience. It just depends how it’s flowing and how I feel that day.” This connection of the literal to the metaphorical is most obvious in ‘Why Should I?’, a call-back to the riffs of Lyoness that proved Gigi to be a powerhouse of rock singing. A brooding stampede of bluesy electric guitars and thunderous drums, ‘Why Should I?’ brings to mind modern rock bands like Royal Blood and The Amazons, but evokes more poetic artists like Phoebe Bridgers through its lyrics, succinct in its intent: “Flowers bloom and die/ They lose their petals and they never cry/ So why should I?”. “It’s about taking your power back”, says Gigi, “be that from a situation where someone else has had control and even just getting older. I’m not 22 and I’m aware of that, especially as a woman where your age is taken more into consideration. I don’t think that should stop anyone trying what they want to – it’s me saying, ‘fuck it, I’m gonna do what I want.’”
This sentiment rings true across the whole of ‘Souvenirs’, a wide-ranging introspection of Gigi’s own mind that tackles personal topics as freely as it does genres. “It’s very much about whatever I’m dealing with”, she says. “So much of my writing process is being able to process stuff I might struggle to otherwise, to say things I might not say as bluntly in real life. There’s a lot of vulnerable thoughts in there, but because it’s wrapped up in a song, it feels easier to share.”
Take ‘Black Water Falls’, a glittering performance that showcases Gigi alone with a guitar in a breathtaking, Jeff Buckley-esque tour-de-force. “Black Waterfalls is a place in West Virginia, and during lockdown, I found this film photo of my husband standing on the edge of a mountain in WV”, Gigi explains, “and he’s gripping onto the rail because he’s afraid of heights. The song came from the memory of being in that place and realising how years later your important memories starts to fade.” ‘Black Water Falls’ stands as a powerful testament to change, both within its lyrics and as a marker of just how far Gigi has come from her rock pedigree, and as the most sensitive moment on ‘Souvenirs’, it reveals just how masterful Gigi’s range is.
After nearly a decade of making rock music, Gigi Gold has redefined herself as a bold new voice, turning the genre upside down in pursuit of something new. From the small taste of ‘Souvenirs’, no one can say which direction Gigi will take next, least of all herself: “I felt I needed to lift the constraints, and the only thing ever stopping me was myself. To this day, I don’t know what I want this to be; I just want to be proud of what I put out there.” With this ethos as her guide and a range of songs that proves she can choose any path she wants, Gigi Gold will quickly be recognised as one of music’s most intriguing and unpredictable voices.