We’re living in the Year of the Monkey, but Brooklyn-based, D.I.Y.-minded rocker Gabrielle Smith (who records as Eskimeaux) has her mind on 2011, a.k.a. the Year of the Rabbit. That’s when she entered a highly fulfilling relationship (she describes it as “dope”) with her current partner Oliver Kalb, who plays in Eskimeaux and with Smith in Bellows. It’s also the title of her forthcoming mini-album, due April 15 on Double Double Whammy.
“We have a pretty unique relationship because we’re in a bunch of bands together,” Smith tells Billboard. “But we tour sometimes separately, because I’m in Frankie Cosmos… We’ll sometimes have long times apart and it’s very therapeutic because it gives me perspective on how dope our relationship is.”
Indeed, it’s the sort of perspective that comes when you’re able to look back on a young relationship several years onward. Smith delved into that soothing time apart on her latest track,
“Oliver and I have a lot of each other’s lyrics in each other’s songs and kind of write back and forth,” Smith says. “Sometimes Greta [Kline] will say something that’s really poignant to me in a Frankie Cosmos song and I’ll use that line to respond to it with my feelings attached… It happens with LVL UP, too. They have a bunch of Frankie Cosmos lyrics in their songs.”
The Fat Angel Sings 