Hailing from South London, Gabriella Bongo infuses the eclectic mix of her home city into her atmosphere liquid drum and bass. Taking influence from House, DnB, 90s RnB and cinema, the twenty-year-old songwriter and producer is able to infuse her high-energy style with emotion of a momentous scale.
Part of Apple’s Creative Studio London programme, the artist’s career has seen a non-stop upward trajectory, connecting with the likes of Nile Rodgers, Skrillex, FredAgain, Enny and Fraser T Smith, featuring on Young Urban Arts Foundation’s ‘Fresh From London’ EP and bringing a vast orchestra to her drum and bass style at the Royal Albert Hall.
Gabriella’s latest release, ‘All Or Nothing’ sees her collaborate with iconic UK dance vocalist Liam Bailey, showcasing her incredible talent in full effect. Striking the perfect balance between atmospheric instrumentation, with soft piano chords, soaring synth leads and processed electric guitar, and powerful, chest-thumping, cinematic 2-step drums, Gabriella energises the vocal performance, shrouding it in dynamic mystery.
Building tension throughout the verses, crossing sound effects from right to left, and sending the twinkling instrumentation to the stratosphere, a final riser pulls the kick and snare out of the darkness, shooting it into a chorus filled with roaring bass and soulful vocals. A nostalgic summer anthem ready by a true next-up producer, ‘All Or Nothing’ is not to be ignored.
“Growing up listening to a lot of UK music, I inevitably came across Liam Bailey,” Gabriella adds, “his most notable song for me being ‘Blind Faith’. I followed him on Instagram as a fan as his voice is incredible. When I became somewhat confident in my music I DMed him – although he did not respond for quite a while! Eventually he did and we had a session! I remember being so excited and so nervous. For about an hour, we were having a chat about our journeys in music so far and I remember telling him I felt as though I didn’t have a choice – I had to make a career out of music. I was doing my A-Levels at the time and already decided I wanted to go to music school afterwards, and so this session made me realise that after I was done with academia, I had to give music my all. Lyrically we drew a lot from that conversation and the space it had put us in. We recorded most of the vocals in a Pirate as that was the only space I had access to at the time. About a year later I got some live strings on the song too.”
‘All Or Nothing’ is out now, check it out here…
