Some want honey - Gabriel Moreno's 'Nights in the Belly of Bohemia' reviewed

My favourite album of the year so far is 'Nights in the Belly of Bohemia' by Gabriel Moreno. This sixth studio album by Moreno shows the singer/songwriter at the height of his powers. The London-based Gibraltarian poet and musician explores the dilemmas of living authentically as an artist within an often-unsympathetic capitalist system. In ‘Lovers, Dreamers,’ he observes, “They’re selling cakes in Montmartre / which cost more than the art, / did you trade your Bedouin heart / for a hit in the charts, did the muse completely depart?...”

Using a nylon-strung guitar and a deep, dark voice, Moreno self-mythologises – he’s a defiant troubadour, “stuck,” as he sings, “in the belly of Bohemia,” that liminal space where artist and audience are free to share exuberance and deep meaning.

Moreno's sound – beautifully complemented by touches of violin, bass, percussion and piano provided by his Bohemian friends – is often compared to Leonard Cohen, but the ghosts of Baudelaire and Keats are also cheering him on from the wings. The opening tracks, ‘Edge of a Dream,’ ‘Lightning Bolt’ and ‘Bohemia,’ are all delightfully sing-along-able tracks yet Moreno never sounds trite or predictable. His unique lyrical style deploys romanticism, surrealism and symbolism, juxtaposing obscure words (‘ebullience,’ ‘splendorous,’) with slightly comical, everyday words (‘wonky,’ ‘fizzle.’)

His lyrics are often self-mocking, at times apologetic. In ‘Bohemia’ he sings, “I know that you need to go ‘coz someone has to keep / this boat afloat...” while ‘Castles’ begins, “Forgive me son, / there is no stash under the stairs...” and goes on “...I have no house in Hampstead Heath...” Poets and musicians are often not very rich, nor very practical. Unlike Arthur Ransome’s ‘Swallows and Amazons,’ Moreno admits, “...The books I own / won’t teach you how to sail or swim...” But perhaps there are other important things to pass onto our children: “I have no sports car on the drive, / typewriters, turntables bore truths that once kept me alive...” Moreno seems to be inviting his son to inherit his artistic sensibility: “...Take this pen, take this shield / to slay the beast of stagnation...”

The underlying themes of the album – the importance of nurturing our true nature, of allowing people to produce something of real value – seem to be encapsulated by a line from the closing track, ‘Churn Out Gold’: “some want honey and others want the bees to churn out gold.” The deeply-moving songs on Nights in the Belly of Bohemia – and the accompanying poetry book of the same title (published by Poetry Mondays Press) – are things of real value and testify that, although they may not yield a hit in the charts, the muse has certainly not abandoned Gabriel Moreno.

This is an extended version of my album review that appears in the June 2025 issue of Songlines magazine, #208.  

Both 'Nights in the Belly of Bohemia' - the album (Poetry Monday Records) and the poetry collection of the same title (published by Poetry Monday Press) are available now. 

Album anniversary, band projects and gallivanting

Busking at a 'busk stop' at
Wimborne Minster Folk Festival 

It’s hard to believe that this week marks two years since the release of my album ‘In the Emptiness.’ One kind reviewer described it as a collection of “highly original songs and atmospheric instrumentals that captivate listeners with their unique charm...” (SLAP Magazine.) I had intended to release a follow-up album by now. I certainly have enough songs and tunes to fill another album but I seem to have got side-tracked. One challenge has been that I invested in a new digital interface to help with the recording process and familiarising myself with this seems, paradoxically,  to have slowed me down. But I’ve also become distracted by being much busier with solo performances and rehearsing with not one but two bands that I’ve joined in the past year.

First, there's Bullo Pill - a dark, experimental folk-rock collective based around Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. We’ve been practicing regularly and did our first gig in February as part of the Gloucester Folk Trail. Then, there's the other band, Brandy for the Parson, based around North Worcestershire, with a vibe similar to the folk-rock bands of the late 60s/early 70s, (bands like Pentangle, The Strawbs and Fairport Convention.)

In between band practices and local solo gigs, I’ve been gallivanting to Newcastle (for a dulcimer-players’ ‘Spring Fling’), to Edinburgh (for some impromptu playing in some of the old town’s best pubs), to Somerset (for Dulcimers at Halsway Manor – the National Centre for Folk Arts) and, last weekend, to Dorset,  busking at various ‘busk stops’ at Wimborne Minster Folk Festival.

There are a few more gigs – and a few more festivals – before the summer’s out*, and then I’ve promised myself in the autumn I will make a concerted effort to record the tracks for the next album. You heard it here first!

* For up-to-date information on my gigs check my Facebook page or my website www.tonygillam.co.uk