Amsterdam-by way of San Diego, CA-based singer-songwriter Gayle Skidmore’s most recent full-length The Golden West is the culmination of nearly two years of both heartache and mind-clearing revelations. The Golden West would test her perseverance, but ultimately help her grow as an artist.W ith an impending wedding and a new album on the horizon, Skidmore was able to purge some of her past ghosts and let go of a lot of stuff she was still holding on to. Throughout the ten-track collection, The Golden West details Skidmore’s personal journey to leave the past where it belongs, a journey that took much longer than planned. She decided to title the record The Golden West to document her move from California to Amsterdam, where her fiance lived.
With the record done and released to critical acclaim, Skidmore reflects on her music career leading up to this record. While she has let go of past relationships and ghosts that have haunted her, she’s also let go of expectations and pressure she puts on herself, helping to make The Golden West the album she wanted to make; pure, honest, and one-hundred percent her. She didn’t make a record to impress others or to make her a “star,” she made a record to truly help her soul, and hopefully others.
Since that album she has continued to develop her sound and today Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of “All My Life,” a new single that is arriving on May 28th. Skidmore’s angelic vocals are immediately striking alongside a minimal yet lush indie folk soundtrack. There is a sweeping drama to this song as it is pushed forward by Skidmore’s powerful singing, and there is a sadness in her voice as she reflects on loss and the way we process grief. It culminates with soaring harmonies and rich orchestration, morphing the song from soft folk to a robust and thoughtful pop sound.
Skidmore shares the story behind the song’s inspiration and process:
“‘All My Life’ is a song that I wrote about loss. My first two years of college, 20 of my friends and acquaintances passed away for various reasons, and I have always written a lot about loss and how to process grief. When I wrote this song about 2 years ago, it was about my grandma Anna Lee, and grandpa Skid (on the other side of the family), who passed 2 weeks before my wedding. I wrote this to process the difficulties of missing people whom you’ve lost and how that shifts and changes in different phases of life but how they always remain with you.
The introduction that I give at shows is this, ‘This song is about the moment when a person that you love becomes a picture in a frame.’
Last year, I recorded this in San Diego with Jeff Berkley of Berkley Heart, up at Jason Mraz’s home studio, Ohm Grown Studios. Nucci, my drummer from my Sleeping Bear album (who now plays for The English Beat), came out to record for me last minute, as well as local bass legend Rick Nash. Jeff co-produced the song, as well as playing guitar for me, and then a host of local San Diego musicians came out to sing for me.
Veronica May, Isaac Cheong, Heather Nation, Billy Galewood, several others, myself and Jeff Berkley made up the chorus at the end. I had sung on Billy’s album (Bushwalla) 10 years prior, so it was like coming full circle.
Lastly, my very favourite band of ALL time, Clare & the Reasons, from Brooklyn, played on the song as well – singing & strings. I am now working as an A&R Director for a licensing company, and signed them a while back, and so it was the absolute thrill of my life to have Clare sing backup vocals and have her husband Olivier orchestrate and perform the strings on the song.
It’s a bit of a long single, but is my favorite thing I’ve done so far. I have a piano only album coming out later this year recorded at Wisseloord (the Abbey Road of the Netherlands) as well as several more singles (one more from Jason’s studio w/ Jeff), so this is coming out in advance of those.”
LISTEN:
