gglum, the moniker of rising London-born songwriter Ella Smoker, has shared another preview from her Secretly Canadian debut, The Garden Dream, out March 29th. ‘Eating Rust’ channels her blustery, intimate sound into an understated break-up anthem. It “was the first song I made while writing the album that felt like it summed up the album’s sound for me,” explains Smoker, “It’s all about a period of my life where I was desperate for one person’s love and approval which I would never get (yet i’d keep on trying anyway). It’s about what inspired the dream that inspired the album.”
‘Eating Rust’ Visualizer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJjh_sjbzzI
The Garden Dream feels like a deep moment of realization for Smoker. Coming after previous, formative 8-track projects Weak Teeth (2022) and once the edge has worn off (2021) it has opened up space for her to reach out to her past self and confront the ill ease that still lingers there. Though she wouldn’t call it a concept album per se, she describes the narrative of her full debut, The Garden Dream, as a kind of fever dream, toeing the line between potent memory and repressed imagination.
“At the time of writing it, I was having so many nightmares, just straight-up graphic and disturbing stuff. I think it was my subconscious telling me I had shit I needed to deal with, a lot of the mistrust I’ve had since I was a teenager. It was weirdly good timing, because I’m at a point in my life now where I’m actually pretty happy, and am in a good place to look back.”
In learning how to open up to herself, gglum ended up finding a kindred spirit in producer Karma Kid (Maisie Peters, Shygirl, Connie Constance), pushing past her natural bedroom-pop introversion to find joy in the process of collaboration.
WATCH VIDEOS FOR PREVIOUS SINGLES
Praise for gglum:
“a bold new vision of indie-pop” – Billboard
“ominous, mischievous” – Stereogum
‘Song You Need in Your Life’ – The FADER on “Do You See Me Different?” & “SPLAT!”
“a dashing, noisy fit of emo-inspired garage rock with tints of TRL-obsessed pop hooks” – Paste Magazine
“the spunky younger cousin to (PJ) Harvey’s Down by the Water” – Exclaim! on “Easy Fun”
“a pillowy dream of electronica & lo-fi pop” – Bandcamp
The 21-year old Ella Smoker first broke out with 2020’s viral pandemic-era hit ‘Why Don’t I Care.’ Inspired by the likes of Alex G, Phil Elverum and Adrianne Lenker, gglum’s music positions Smoker as an artist who can wield atmospheric disturbance at her fingertips, crafting soundscapes that allow her to reconcile with a tumultuous coming-of-age. With flickers of electronica, dream pop and discordant garage-punk, her acoustic guitar becomes a sturdy ally, the base of a versatile, lo-fi sound that manages to feel simultaneously escapist and immersive.
Raised on everything from rockabilly and soul to MTV-era emo, she was drawn to music that offered a sense of safety, a feeling of being held within the layers of detailed instrumentation. But when she tried to write herself, she wasn’t quite sure how to conjure this sense of comfort, to make music that could adequately deal with the issues bothering her subconscious at night.
“At the time I was 17, going out all the time, bunking school, feeling really rubbish about myself,” she says. “I think that’s what helped with writing a song I liked for the first time — I just started being honest. It was basically just me pouring my misery into a song, and that’s why I called myself gglum. At the time, I was just being all angsty teenager.”
Tracklist:
- With You
- SPLAT!
- Late
- Pruning 1
- Pruning 2
- Easy Fun
- Glue
- Second Best
- He Laid His 97’s Neatly By The Door
- Honeybee
- Do You See Me Different? (Feat. Kamal)
- Eating Rust
- The Garden Dream
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