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Wait, this is Norah Jones isn't it? But what's this, I'm awake at the end of it? Surely then, it can't be Norah! Southern California's Gayl has been blessed with the same kind of sultry and sweet voice as Jones and also sticks with similarly jazzy down-tempo pieces, but there's an important difference in that Gayl actually does something interesting. ‘Impossible' tells the age-old story of wanting what you know isn't best, and going for it anyways. We know, you've heard that song a million times, but Gayl's is one more version of it that's worth a listen. Her lyrics aren't predictable or soppy, but rather they are challenging and interestingly imprecise. What also keeps ‘Impossible' going, however, is its ‘Unchained Melody'-esque backing, perfect for a slow dance or one of those really great girl get-together sobs. She's got a voice like Norah, but in terms of being dynamic, Larkin takes the cake.
- Elis Newton, Music On Air
Wait, this is Norah Jones isn't it? But what's this, I'm awake at the end of it? Surely then, it can't be Norah! Southern California's Gayl has been blessed with the same kind of sultry and sweet voice as Jones and also sticks with similarly jazzy down-tempo pieces, but there's an important difference in that Gayl actually does something interesting. ‘Impossible' tells the age-old story of wanting what you know isn't best, and going for it anyways. We know, you've heard that song a million times, but Gayl's is one more version of it that's worth a listen. Her lyrics aren't predictable or soppy, but rather they are challenging and interestingly imprecise. What also keeps ‘Impossible' going, however, is its ‘Unchained Melody'-esque backing, perfect for a slow dance or one of those really great girl get-together sobs. She's got a voice like Norah, but in terms of being dynamic, Larkin takes the cake.
- Elis Newton, Music On Air
CD review: Larkin Gayl, 'Two Hands'
Friday, July 11, 2008
At first listen, it may seem easy to compare Larkin
Gayl to some other great singers. On this cut, she
suggests Corinne Bailey Rae, but on the next, you're
thinking McGarrigle sisters, or maybe Maria Muldaur.
By the third cut on her lovely, surprise-filled first
album, "Two Hands," you realize that Gayl happily
defies easy comparison. She readily adapts her fluidly
gorgeous soprano to a country swing on "Impossible,"
gives it a soft jazz lilt on "Warrior," a soft-rock sway on
"A Life of Everything." Gayl is a double threat, both a
great singer and a fine songwriter. Nine of the 10 cuts
on the album will knock you out. The 10th is timely
and, heaven knows, offers an unimpeachable message,
but Gayl's musical homage to same-sex marriage, "I Do," doesn't measure up to the other songs on the
album. - David Wiegand
- San Francisco Chronicle
CD review: Larkin Gayl, 'Two Hands'
Friday, July 11, 2008
At first listen, it may seem easy to compare Larkin
Gayl to some other great singers. On this cut, she
suggests Corinne Bailey Rae, but on the next, you're
thinking McGarrigle sisters, or maybe Maria Muldaur.
By the third cut on her lovely, surprise-filled first
album, "Two Hands," you realize that Gayl happily
defies easy comparison. She readily adapts her fluidly
gorgeous soprano to a country swing on "Impossible,"
gives it a soft jazz lilt on "Warrior," a soft-rock sway on
"A Life of Everything." Gayl is a double threat, both a
great singer and a fine songwriter. Nine of the 10 cuts
on the album will knock you out. The 10th is timely
and, heaven knows, offers an unimpeachable message,
but Gayl's musical homage to same-sex marriage, "I Do," doesn't measure up to the other songs on the
album. - David Wiegand
- San Francisco Chronicle
FOR MARIN singer/songwriter Larkin Gayl, Tuesday was joyous, emotional and incredibly timely.
She was at San Francisco City Hall first thing in the morning, handing out CDs of her same-sex marriage song, "I Do," to gay and lesbian couples lining up to get married at City Hall.
The song is one of 10 originals on her debut CD, "Two Hands," on Mill Valley's About Records. The album was released that very day, which just so happened to be when the first gay weddings were allowed, coming six weeks after the state Supreme Court overturned a ban on them.
"I had to sit down and cry for a half hour before I could walk in," she said over her cell phone. "This is so dear to my heart. Of all the issues in the world, this is the one I'd fight for."
In another instance of perfect timing, she arrived just as Mayor Gavin Newsom prepared to officiate the first ceremony.
"I gave a copy to him personally," she told me. "And I thanked him for being the inspiration for the song. He said, 'Thank you, thank you,' and flashed his big, beautiful smile."
With its uplifting lyrics about tolerance and acceptance and its irresistible sing-along chorus, "I Do" is rapidly becoming an anthem of the same-sex marriage movement.
"One of the mayor's assistants said, 'We've been playing this song in the office all week. We love it,'" Larkin said. "Another told me, 'I'm marrying my partner and we're choosing this as our wedding song.' I'm not sure where they heard it, but they already knew
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it."
As a wedding gift to all the same-sex couples who have waited so long for this to happen, Larkin is offering "I Do" as a free download on her Web site, larkingayl.com, and on her MySpace page, myspace.com/larkingayl.
The idea for the song came to her even before she devoted herself full-time to music. For seven years, she worked as an in-home care giver for the terminally ill, often singing and comforting people dying under hospice care.
"I kept hearing about same sex couples who were denied their right to be together in the hospital because they weren't married," she remembered. "To think someone couldn't be with the one they love the most in their final hours was devastating to me. It just killed me to hear that. One day, the song just came to me when I was imagining that day when the mayor would open up city hall and the couples would line up to get married."
A 1993 Drake High grad, Larkin, whose sultry, sweet voice has been compared to that of Norah Jones, didn't get into music full-time until four years ago.
Her big break came when she won the Marin Idol contest at the Mill Valley Variety Show, which led to a record deal with About Records, founded by Mill Valley's George Daly.
On July 5, she'll sing "I Do" on the "West Coast Live" radio show (10 a.m. to noon, 91.7 FM) as a same-sex couple gets married on the air.
Coincidentally, Larkin will soon be a newlywed herself. She's engaged to Joaquin Lujan, a cameraman she met when he filmed her record company audition.
"I got a record deal and a husband in one day," she said with a giggle.
I had never heard Larkin sing until the Stop the Spray concert in Sausalito a couple of weeks ago.
I was impressed by her easy command of the audience, how she had everyone singing along on "I Do" as well as the title song of the album, "Two Hands," and its repeating refrain, "I'm not afraid."
With her admirable social conscience, natural beauty, talent as a guitar-playing singer-songwriter and now with a timely debut album, she has a lot going for her. I wondered what she had in mind for her future, now that she's got the beginnings of a legitimate career.
"I want to make sure I'm in the music business for the right reasons," she told me. I'm not in it for fame. I would definitely accept fortune. But I don't write pithy songs that don't mean anything. I hope my skills as a lyricist will open some minds and hearts. That's why I'm doing it. I believe in people singing positive songs together. I truly believe in that stuff. I think it makes a difference."
Paul Liberatore can be reached at liberatore@marinij.com.
- Marin Independent Journal
FOR MARIN singer/songwriter Larkin Gayl, Tuesday was joyous, emotional and incredibly timely.
She was at San Francisco City Hall first thing in the morning, handing out CDs of her same-sex marriage song, "I Do," to gay and lesbian couples lining up to get married at City Hall.
The song is one of 10 originals on her debut CD, "Two Hands," on Mill Valley's About Records. The album was released that very day, which just so happened to be when the first gay weddings were allowed, coming six weeks after the state Supreme Court overturned a ban on them.
"I had to sit down and cry for a half hour before I could walk in," she said over her cell phone. "This is so dear to my heart. Of all the issues in the world, this is the one I'd fight for."
In another instance of perfect timing, she arrived just as Mayor Gavin Newsom prepared to officiate the first ceremony.
"I gave a copy to him personally," she told me. "And I thanked him for being the inspiration for the song. He said, 'Thank you, thank you,' and flashed his big, beautiful smile."
With its uplifting lyrics about tolerance and acceptance and its irresistible sing-along chorus, "I Do" is rapidly becoming an anthem of the same-sex marriage movement.
"One of the mayor's assistants said, 'We've been playing this song in the office all week. We love it,'" Larkin said. "Another told me, 'I'm marrying my partner and we're choosing this as our wedding song.' I'm not sure where they heard it, but they already knew
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it."
As a wedding gift to all the same-sex couples who have waited so long for this to happen, Larkin is offering "I Do" as a free download on her Web site, larkingayl.com, and on her MySpace page, myspace.com/larkingayl.
The idea for the song came to her even before she devoted herself full-time to music. For seven years, she worked as an in-home care giver for the terminally ill, often singing and comforting people dying under hospice care.
"I kept hearing about same sex couples who were denied their right to be together in the hospital because they weren't married," she remembered. "To think someone couldn't be with the one they love the most in their final hours was devastating to me. It just killed me to hear that. One day, the song just came to me when I was imagining that day when the mayor would open up city hall and the couples would line up to get married."
A 1993 Drake High grad, Larkin, whose sultry, sweet voice has been compared to that of Norah Jones, didn't get into music full-time until four years ago.
Her big break came when she won the Marin Idol contest at the Mill Valley Variety Show, which led to a record deal with About Records, founded by Mill Valley's George Daly.
On July 5, she'll sing "I Do" on the "West Coast Live" radio show (10 a.m. to noon, 91.7 FM) as a same-sex couple gets married on the air.
Coincidentally, Larkin will soon be a newlywed herself. She's engaged to Joaquin Lujan, a cameraman she met when he filmed her record company audition.
"I got a record deal and a husband in one day," she said with a giggle.
I had never heard Larkin sing until the Stop the Spray concert in Sausalito a couple of weeks ago.
I was impressed by her easy command of the audience, how she had everyone singing along on "I Do" as well as the title song of the album, "Two Hands," and its repeating refrain, "I'm not afraid."
With her admirable social conscience, natural beauty, talent as a guitar-playing singer-songwriter and now with a timely debut album, she has a lot going for her. I wondered what she had in mind for her future, now that she's got the beginnings of a legitimate career.
"I want to make sure I'm in the music business for the right reasons," she told me. I'm not in it for fame. I would definitely accept fortune. But I don't write pithy songs that don't mean anything. I hope my skills as a lyricist will open some minds and hearts. That's why I'm doing it. I believe in people singing positive songs together. I truly believe in that stuff. I think it makes a difference."
Paul Liberatore can be reached at liberatore@marinij.com.
- Marin Independent Journal
Discography
"Sings" EP (2007 About Records)
"Two Hands" Full length Debut (2008 About Records)
Photos
Bio
When Larkin Gayl sings it’s hard not to fall under her spell. Infused with the natural beauty of her native Northern California hills, her songwriting and honeysweet voice have been drawing a lot of attention lately, including a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. Here’s what the San Francisco Chronicle had to say about “Two Hands”,
her stellar debut CD released in June:
At first listen, it may seem easy to compare Larkin Gayl to some other great singers. On this cut, she suggests Corinne Bailey Rae, but on the next, you're thinking McGarrigle sisters, or maybe Maria Muldaur. By the third cut on her lovely, surprise-filled first album, "Two Hands," you realize that Gayl happily defies easy comparison. She readily adapts her fluidly gorgeous soprano to a country swing on "Impossible," gives it a soft jazz lilt on "Warrior," a soft-rock sway on "A Life of Everything." Gayl is a double threat, both a great singer and a fine songwriter. Nine of the 10 cuts on the album will knock you out.” - David Wiegand
As a child, Larkin began singing with her folksinger father. Even back then, her voice was attracting attention. But as she grew, she sang only for the pleasure it brought her as well as the fortunate few lucky enough to hear her. It wasn’t until later, when she was working as a caregiver for terminally ill patients, that she discovered the true power of her voice. Straight from her heart, she would sing to both children and adults as their lives were slipping away in an attempt to ease their pain. As Larkin recollects about one gravely ill five year old girl, hardly able to breathe and unable to speak or see, “She would have this huge grin on her face every time I sang to her. It was only then that I realized how powerful music was, especially the music that came out of me.” It was a revelation, the moment when she understood that in her own small way, maybe she could “shine a light on the shadows that often darken our human existence.”
The time had arrived where she had no choice; she would have to devote herself to her musical calling. After a few years working as a backup singer, a painful breakup with the man she loved unlocked her gift for writing songs. “I would hear them in my sleep, in my head while I was driving, taking hikes, at shows. I asked friends to help me figure out what chords went with the melodies and would then teach myself how to play them with a chord book.”
She taught herself well. Shortly after embarking on her solo career, as if written in a storybook, she was discovered performing at a Marin County talent show by Platinum record producer and A&R legend George Daly, the man who discovered The Cars. Immediately, he knew he had found someone special. "She's the real deal," he says. "Believe me, I've heard many talented females. And whatever that special something is, Larkin has it.” Daly quickly signed her to his About Records label, brought in some of the finest musicians in the world (including Norah Jones' drummer Andrew Borger and Sting's guitar player Dominic Miller) and released the critically acclaimed “Two Hands.” With Larkin now on the Grammy short list, the world is beginning to take notice.
As with all great art, Larkin’s music is born of exceptional feeling and insight. Her musical voice reflects a rare and deep spiritual awareness that reaches far beyond her tender years. Inspired by her transformational hospice experience singing to aching souls trapped between life and death, Larkin also trained as a wilderness guide for rites of passage (some call them “vision quests”) and has spent months in the remote California desert, often doing “solos” - four day excursions with no food or shelter. She makes sure that her path keeps her close to the mysteries of nature. Spending much of her time now in Santa Fe with her Native American fiancé, she has been immersed in the ways of indigenous life and has participated in powerful rituals known to a very few. Hers is a constant quest for insight, harmony and above all, love. That is what she knows and that is what she is about.
But when you listen to Larking Gayl, you can’t help but feel that most of all she is about beautiful music.
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