Brisbane’s Gabriella Cohen released her debut album Full Closure and No Details on her own Dirty Power Studios label back in March. The album quickly drew critical praise, Cohen moved to Melbourne, and now she’s making her stateside debut thanks to a reissue from Dot Dash/Captured Tracks.
Cohen, who also plays with The Furrs, is a masterful arranger. “I Don’t Feel So Alive,” which we’re proud to be premiering this morning, takes its time and reveals itself casually over four and a half minutes. A mini-twanged guitar figure is the pole around which the song turns, gathering layers with every rotation—girl-group backing vocals both ironic and earnest, loping drums, a handful of tambourine—until the whole thing unspools in a genuine rave up.
But if that guitar is the song’s center, Cohen’s vocal performance is its leading edge. “Do you get high on a Saturday night and think of me?” she drawls, her voice pitched just below a snarl. It’s the first question of an argument. “Do you ever think about two years ago?” she continues, accentuating the word “two” to a comical degree—you know the time she’s talking about.
It would be an overreach to call “I Don’t Feel So Alive” a bold statement—complexity and ambiguity being what it aims for, not boldness—but it’s a strident and confident piece of songwriting that Cohen sells perfectly. Give it a listen below via SoundCloud and the song’s video, and check out Full Closure and No Details’s track list and art.
Full Closure and No Details track list
“Beaches”
“I Don’t Feel So Alive”
“Sever the Walls”
“Yesterday”
“Piano Song”
“Feelin’ Fine”
“Downtown”
“Dream Song”
“This Could Be Love”
“Alien Anthem”
Full Closure and No Details is out 10/14 via Dot Dash/Captured Tracks.
