Not since the dramatic acoustic guitar spill from Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You” has the acoustic guitar turned my attention so rapidly. In the new cut “Stir Crazy” from Pennsylvania multi-hyphenated artist, Stacy Gabel, the cadence and rhythm dance happening between her voice and the guitar send a shower of shivers down the listeners spine. Gabel’s prime-time ready voice and the polaroid snapshot of the world on lockdown makes for quite the entertaining song.
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/stacygabelmusic?lang=en
A multi-talented and multi-faceted artist, Gabel is an award-winning singer/songwriter. A graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York city and Kutztown University in Pennsylvania for television production. Among her many singles are “Straight to Voicemail”, “Hushabye Mountain” and “Two Hearts One Soul”. The Lehigh Valley Music Awards have awarded her numerous awards in the years 2017, 2018 and 2019.
The guitar is like a whippersnapper – it stopped me in my tracks. Gabel’s voice is enchanting, she has that perfect mingling of delicate and raspy casting. Oh, she coos. The harmony lingers for what feels like days. Her voice just has this organic tone when she calls out the ‘oh’ and I almost wish she would have used it more throughout the song. The sun will shine again, we got to love this world we live in, she sings. Almost abruptly and whip-like, the guitar enters. She pauses for just a slight second and sings we’re stir crazy, before the must starts again. Her voice inflection even changes, lowering a notch. It’s not as dramatic as I’m making it sound, but it’s a clever nuance.
Gabel continues along to sing about how we’ve been hunkered down, we’re learning new things and we have to look past this noise. It was strange to be listening to a song about being distanced from other people and feel so connected to her words, but that’s the magic of music. Music is the great communicator, the great glue that gels us all together. “Stir Crazy” is proof in the pudding that songs like this help us take our mind of things, even if it’s about what we’re attempting to take our mind off of, and allow us to marinate in the vibe of a folksy/Americana artist even for a few minutes. Gabel finds a way to raise her glass to cheer on the suck that we’re all having to embrace and make the most of it.
DEEZER: https://www.deezer.com/us/artist/50397752?autoplay=true
I was happily surprised on the inclusion of strings in the music background, too. I didn’t quite pick up on the arrangement until my second listen, same for the percussion. I knew it was there, I felt more ensconced by that awakening, unruly acoustic guitar. Have I told you that I liked it yet? My goodness, so deliciously awesome. Who knew such a quick guitar segment would have me drooling, but it did and I am. “Stir Crazy” might actually have me going stir crazy over its guitar, and it just might be making me equally nutty over Gabel’s voice.
Jodi Marxbury
The music of Stacey Gabel has been heard all over the world in partnership with the radio plugging services offered by Musik and Film Radio Promotions Division. Learn more https://musikandfilm.com