Moving Faster Than A Hurricane

Gabriels “Love and Hate in a Different Time”

There’s a musical shift in “Love and Hate in a Different Time” that’s so sudden and surprising that mentioning it here before you hear it ought to be preface by a spoiler warning: The part where this solemn but groovy soul number moves into an instrumental break and instead of a piano or guitar solo, there’s a wild analog synth part that tosses out melody in favor of what sounds sorta like an R2-D2 freestyle. It’s an inspired choice, but it also does a good job of grounding this song which in many ways feels rooted to the 1960s in the present. That tether between then and now is musically interesting but also serves the concept of the song, as singer Jacob Lusk tries to make sense of how peaceful coexist always gets disrupted by people who insist on yanking everything back to a previous state of discord.

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