gglum – “Do You See Me Different?” (Feat. Kamal) & “Glue”
The young London singer-songwriter Ella Smoker made herself a lifelong enemy of all spellcheck apps when she started releasing music under the name gglum. Thus far, though, the spellcheck mafia has done nothing to slow Smoker’s momentum. After self-releasing two lo-fi bedroom albums and a few stray tracks, Smoker signed with Secretly Canadian last year; we’ve already posted her singles “SPLAT!” and “Easy Fun.” Now, Smoker has announced plans to release The Garden Dream, her first gglum album on Secretly Canadian, and she’s shared a couple of new tracks.
Ella Smoker, who’s still just 21, recorded The Garden Dream with Karma Kid, a producer who’s worked with artists like Shygirl and Dua Lipa. “SPLAT!” and “Easy Fun” are on the album, and so are the new songs “Do You See Me Different?” and “Glue,” both of which keep the hazy and homespun gglum aesthetic without skimping on the warm, comforting hooks. “Do You See Me Different?” features a verse from Kamal, another young London bedroom-pop type who’s been generating a whole lot of excitement lately. In a press release, Smoker says:
At the time of writing it, I was having so many nightmares, just straight-up graphic and disturbing stuff. I think it was my subconscious telling me I had shit I needed to deal with, a lot of the mistrust I’ve had since I was a teenager. It was weirdly good timing, because I’m at a point in my life now where I’m actually pretty happy, and am in a good place to look back.
Below, check out “Do You See Me Different?,” “Glue,” and the tracklist for The Garden Dream.
TRACKLIST:
01 “With You”
02 “SPLAT!”
03 “Late”
04 “Pruning 1”
05 “Pruning 2”
06 “Easy Fun”
07 “Glue”
08 “Second Best”
09 “He Laid His 97’s Neatly By The Door”
10 “Honeybee”
11 “Do You See Me Different?” (Feat. Kamal)
12 “Eating Rust”
13 “The Garden Dream”
The Garden Dream is out 3/29 on Secretly Canadian.