by Tom Gallo (@lookatmyrecords)
Gabe Hascall returns to his roots on his latest single, “Thousands of Thorns.” The singer-songwriter made quite an impact on the Austin music scene in the 90s and aughts in beloved bands like The Impossibles and Slowreader before venturing out to Portland for a spell. While there, Hascall spent time refining his songcraft, compiling a lurid collection of tunes that’ll be featured on his latest solo effort, Thousands of Thorns. Today, Hascall has shared the album’s title track, a short, but powerful and intimate portrait of self-introspection amongst the mundanities of life.
On “Thousands of Thorns,” Hascall excels at unifying several moving parts to create a bevy of hooks in impressively just under two minutes. In particular, there’s the nice touch of auxiliary percussion that kicks in during the first chorus and the mesmerizing sound of perfectly interlocked guitars that anchors the song throughout its duration. Pascall has a bit of Wayne Coyne and James Mercer in his voice, but his words spill out of his mouth quickly and earnestly in a manner that sits perfectly between stream-of-conscious and deliberate. His words are fine-tuned, poetic, and even tongue in cheek at times, as towards the song’s conclusion, he asserts “home in where you hang your hat and play god with the thermostat.”
Thousands of Thorns is set for release on April 10th via Austin Town Hall Records.