Gabrielle Wortman

The Darker Side Of Love

Songwriters Monthly - Aug. 11, #139 http://www.scribd.com/SongwritersMonthly

An ominous thumping that sounds disturbingly like only half of a heartbeat emerges from the emptiness and anchors the haunting twirl of a piano caught in an endless loop of unease. The breathy whisper of sensual vocals

There is a totally different side of falling in love . . . theres anxiety, theres pain, and theres confusion.
enter, cautioning, revealing a darkness. Its an addiction, something outside of reason and beyond control. There is a disquieting angst and a rippling of fear that pirouettes across the flesh. This unsettling wash of emotions, both unpredictable and foreboding, is love. Everyone always writes about the butterflies and bubbles, Gabrielle Wortman began, but I think there is a totally different side of falling in love. It s angst ridden and, when it s unrequited, theres anxiety, theres pain, and theres confusion. When you fall in love you are losing control. Dont Let Me Lose Control is the opening track on Gabrielles T HE VOODOO EP, an offering of songs that explore a darker side of falling in love. The music is propelled by a lush and inviting bleakness that brings to mind Evanescences Amy Lee colliding with the rich and soulful roar of Etta James. Songwriters Monthly - Aug. 11, #139

Contrary to the tense, things-coiled-inshadows-waiting-to-strike tone of this EP, Wortman is a vibrant young woman who could easily be mistaken for the stunning Blake Lively. She speaks with the charged sparkle of a girl who has just stepped off of the most amazing roller coaster ride in the world and cant wait to tell you all about it! When I asked her about the possible autobiographical nature of Dont Let http://www.scribd.com/SongwritersMonthly

Me Lose Control, Gabrielle revealed, Ive definitely felt that way before I think everybody has who has fallen in love at any point but this song was inspired by one of my best friends who is also a songwriter. Even though weve never had a romance well write songs about each other as if we had, we sort of inspire each others writing process. But this song was definitely inspired by him, it was more about the events in his life than the events in mine. Often, a true romance will blossom between two actors who started off simply playing roles. Do you feel that kind of closeness when working with another musician? I asked.

Yes, theres definitely a closeness, she agreed, because of the sheer amount of time it takes to finish preparing for a set and the sheer amount of time youre with someone. Plus, you have to be completely comfortable with telling each other how you feel about what you are playing and how you feel about

When you fall in love you are losing control.

their song. In order to really be wide open and to work with people in music, you have to be really comfortable with them. Gabrielle began her musical training with a classical foundation, then around 7th grade she started studying with this crazy jazz pianist who was just incredible! He used to make me watch videos of Thelonious Monk and people standing on the piano and just the most ridiculous things! He really punched me in the face with that kind of stuff! My lacrosse coach used to say, Play the ball, dont let the ball play you, and I feel the same way about piano: Play the piano, dont let the piano play you! There should be no rules, you are in control. I think thats something thats been so completely lost with todays pop stars, she continued, the most they can do is a four-chord progression. I think a lot of people want to start seeing that the musicians have virtuosity, a turn back to the days when we watched Little Richard with our jaws on the floor as he

Songwriters Monthly - Aug. 11, #139

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destroyed a piano! When we perform, thats what we try to do, too, because it shows people who havent really been

I just love that phenomenon of experiencing a song with your fans and consuming it with them.
exposed to it that there is a huge difference between people who can really play their instruments and people who can kind of play their instruments. I was watching some of your live performances on YouTube and I noticed that as soon as you start to play, you seem to drop deep into the song and get completely lost in the music . . . and the moment, I noted. Everybody has been saying that lately because I do! Gabrielle responded. My whole theory is its one thing to record your song and to give it to your fans and tell them to experience it however theyre going to experience it, but its a completely different thing to make the song for your fans on the spot and experience it with them! Thats the reason why I started playing music to begin with: I just love that phenomenon of experiencing a song with your fans and consuming it with them. I love making music and I love si ngi ng, so I do get compl etely consumed during my performances. Songwriters Monthly - Aug. 11, #139

On Wortmans end of the phone, a blaring siren rolled in from the distance, growing in volume until it blotted out everything she was saying. Before that siren had even finished, another joined

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in. Then another. Eventually, when the cacophony of bellowing horn honks and shrieking sirens had faded back into the distance, I asked, Are you alright?! Gabrielle laughed a bright, sunny kind of laugh as she explained, Im sitting outside at a caf because it was so loud inside, but apparently theres a fire somewhere nearby. My mind bounced back almost two years ago to when I was interviewing Andy Hamm of the Local Natives. I told Gabrielle a truncated version of how that interview kept getting interrupted because local business owners kept chasing Andy off their property because they thought he was loitering. At the time, it was stressful, but looking back it was rather comical listening to him repeatedly trying to explain that he was not looking to cause any problems, he was just looking for a relatively quiet place to try and give an interview.

Artwork from Local Natives GORILLA MANOR If I remember correctly, Andy was responsible for that artwork and his process involved playing with images and just being on Photoshop way too much! I recalled, hoping the tidbit was accurate. Its just an incredible album cover! Speaking of other artists whom youre fond of, Tori Amos seems to have had a major impact on both you and your music. Ye s ! E v e r y b o d y g o e s t h r o u g h obsessions and phases in their lives and Tori was my first, Gabrielle confessed. I think it slightly alarmed my mother because I was a 5th grader who would only listen to the LITTLE EARTHQUAKES album she was probably hoping that I would take some interest in the http://www.scribd.com/SongwritersMonthly

I do get completely consumed during my performances.

Oh, I looove the Local Natives, I love them! Wortman blurted. In fact, were about ready to cut my new album, so yesterday I was looking at album covers and that Local Natives album cover is just the coolest thing Ive ever seen! My friend who is a graphic designer was like, How do you even think of something like that, what is the thought process behind it? Songwriters Monthly - Aug. 11, #139

I think a lot of people want to start seeing that the musicians have virtuosity, a turn back to the days when we watched Little Richard with our jaws on the floor as he destroyed a piano!
Backstreet Boys! Tori Amos is no easy thing to swallow. Her lyrics, her content, everything is extremely explicit and at times disturbing . . . but I liked that honesty. She taught me that things which sound painful should be incorporated into songs about painful things. And, she has incredible control over the piano. Another thing I took from her when I was a little girl was how to make your instrument sound like the words that you are saying. She does that incredibly well. Is it possible that there was some other reason for your connection to Tori Amos? I pushed. Songwriters Monthly - Aug. 11, #139

Well, the thing about Tori Amos that I feel made me immediately connected to her was her choice to be wide open about her rape when she was younger, Wortman informed. I went through a similar experience and for being an adolescent, being really c o n f u s e d about such a traumatic experience, to h e a r

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support from someone I idolized was it happened to her. incredible! Thats why, as Ive gotten older and as Ive I was hoping youd begun to grow as be willing to talk Tori Amos taught an artist in the about this, but I public sphere, Ive didnt want to ask me that music can decided that Im you directly in case give you a voice; it going to be it was uncomcompletely wide fortable in any gave me a voice. open about the way, I admitted. My hope is that assault that I went through because No, no, no, I try music will give there will be little and do public girls or older speaking about it other women their girls out there in whenever possible voices, too. the world who keep because society quiet. When you go trains us to be through something like that, you never afraid to talk about it or to be ashamed have a voice, women stay quiet about to talk about it. If people who need to the abuse. But Tori Amos taught me be aware of it are kept in the dark, then that music can give you a voice; it gave improvement can never be made, steps me a voice. My can never be taken hope is that music forward. will give other women their Gabrielle Wortman voices, too. Its a is an impressively cycle that I want bold artist who is to keep going with refreshingly open because theres no and has an reason to be afraid infectious upbeat to be wide open nature. She is also about it, the comfortable being silence is what a voice for the keeps the abuse of silent ones. Her w o m e n l a t e s t E P, T H E perpetuating VOODOO EP, deals t h r o u g h o u t eloquently with generations. themes of control a n d t h e d a r k e r, Do you mind if I more primal, side ask how old you were at the time? of love. For more information on Gabrielle and her music, visit: I was just barely a teenager, so I was around the same age as Tori was when http://gabriellewortmanmusic.com.
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Songwriters Monthly - Aug. 11, #139

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