With a sound that can only be described as “the Shangri-Las on acid”, the enigmatic French band Gloria have recorded a stunning debut album which is one of the grooviest records of 2016. Shunning social media, very little is known about the mysterious Gloria and that’s the way they like it………all we know is that Gloria is a new 6 piece group from Lyon, France, fronted by 3 female singers. Recorded at Kerwax Studios, one of France's last all-analog studios, their debut album, In Excelsis Stereo, is heavily influenced by 60's Psychedelic Pop and especially the girl groups from that era. Dominated by gorgeous harmonies from the female leads and mashing together Lee Hazlewood’s pop productions for Nancy Sinatra and Honey Ltd with a harder fuzzed out Nuggets/Garage Rock vibe and a dash of Phil Spector, Gloria’s debut is straight outta 1966/67 with a mix of groovy Psych Pop, tough girl group R&B and gentle Folk Rock.
Gloria have carefully created a wonderful 60s style Garage Rock base where they lay beautiful intertwining vocals on top………tracks such as ‘Braindead’, ‘Shelter’, ‘Exotica’ and ‘Howlin' Stones’ are Fuzz Rock stompers blending a classic girl group R&B sound with loud guitars and a thunderous rhythm section and are guaranteed floor fillers at any shindig. Gloria have also tapped into 60s Folk Rock with ‘The Highlight’ and ‘Requiem For A Witch’ evoking the mellow sounds for gentle people emanating from SF at the height of the acid revolution. The two best tracks on In Excelsis Stereo have to be the unfeasibly far out ‘Beam Me Up’ with it’s slinky stoned groove (watch the video here) and the absolutely brilliant Hazelwood-esque Country Rock vibe of ‘In The Morning’(here). This really is a astounding debut album from Gloria, the closest comparison we can think off is the Sundowners album from last year although In Excelsis Stereo has more of a 60s “lost album” feel than the Sundowners acid whirl. Any retro PsychHeads out there really need to check this record.
Out on November 18th on Howlin' Banana Records, In Excelsis Stereo is available on CD and as a digital download. Essential listening for any fan of 60s Psychedelic Pop. Pre-orders now being taken at the Howlin’ Banana Bandcamp page here https://howlinbananarecords.bandcamp.com/album/gloria-in-excelsis-stereo.
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