Amel Larrieux - Gills and Tails
Amel Larrieux is a singer-songwriter whose music encompasses R&B, soul, and occasionally jazz. She is perhaps best known as one half of R&B duo Groove Theory, which is actually how I came across her. When I decided to do some research online to see what Groove Theory has been up to or even if they were active (and they aren’t), I read that Amel has been embarking on her own solo career. I checked out her music and have been pretty much listening to her since.
What makes Amel standout is her voice, which tends to have a certain vulnerable quality to it. Listening to her will give you a genuine impression that she is passionate about what she’s singing about and may have some sort of personal connection to the song, which makes listening to her music more of an intimate experience. In addition, Amel writes wonderful and often poetic lyrics. A perfect example of her vocal and writing ability is Gills and Tails, coming from her third studio album, Morning. It’s a wonderful and rather introspective and poetic song about conforming to be like others, but losing your identity in the process. She uses her metamorphosis into a fish as a metaphor for the song’s theme. “Can’t tell how long I’ve been/ In the company of gills and tails/ I think I feel my skin/ Growing scales,” she sings. In a sense, the song comes off as a warning: that you’re better of being and staying true to yourself.
I looked at my reflection in the water
Thought what an unlikely pair
Closed my eyes, held my breath, plummeted down, down, down
And anchored myself there
Can’t tell how long I’ve been
In the company of gills and tails
I think I feel my skin
Growing scales
chorus
Can I come up for air
Can I come up, can I come up
(repeat 3x)
I’m gettin’ eaten up down here
I’m just not built like them
The big fish have a monopoly
The little fish get buried in the sand
This here world I’m in
Sucks your life out, leaves you comatose
Take back your salt and fins
Send me a lifeboat
chorus
I look up at longing at the surface
Hypnotized by the way the sunlight seems to ride each ripple
And they do a dance
Every ray becomes a beckoning hand
I miss the sweet taste of oxygen
I mistook this for the promised land
chorus
- moises
