A.O. Gerber
Los Angeles based musician A.O. Gerber announces sophomore album, Meet Me At The Gloaming due 14th October via Father / Daughter Records (US) and Hand In Hive (UK). and shares new single ‘Hunger’ along with striking video directed by Vivian Wolfson.
Photo Credit: Seannie Bryan
Discussing the new single Gerber says: “This song sort of wrote itself in the midst of a really devastating fire season in LA. I’d been thinking a lot about the opposing forces of desire and negation, all the different ways we both consume and restrict as individuals and as a culture. I’ve spent so much of my life vacillating between these polarities, making myself small physically and spiritually. I haven’t always had the ability to critique that impulse in myself but it felt good to do that here.”
Commenting on the video Gerber adds: “This song is lyrically heavy, so I knew I wanted the video to poke a bit of fun at itself. All I told Vivian (the director, who — let it be known — graduated high school less than a month after we filmed) was that I wanted cake to be shoved in my face at some point. From that she came up with this absurdly stunning set design and concept. Everyone on the crew put so much heart into it. I’ve never laughed so much on set.”
Director Vivian Wolfson adds: "After listening to Hunger on repeat for a few days, I found that what really resonated with me about the song was its movement from passive to active; I really wanted to play with that idea in the video by having mysterious gloved hands interact with her throughout (I also just love a good colorful accessory). The dining room and portrait set-ups allowed me to work with the feeling of being acted upon (ie. being fed and painted), but also gave me the chance to experiment with production design - the portrait scene was a mini studio we set up in my family’s living room. Our shoot day was electric and exciting overall, full of laughter at the absurdity of some of my directorial ideas which I feel very lucky that Olivia trusted me enough to go along with. I never cease to be inspired by my friends and collaborators who can truly make anything happen."
On her new album Meet Me At The Gloaming, A.O. Gerber carefully grapples with the constraints she was taught as a child to reach for the flourishing that comes when we look past the black and white, and into the gray gauze of the in-between. “I was thinking about how damaging it can be to exist in that binary space of good and evil,” Gerber explains. “When we see everything in either/or’s, we lose the nuance and complexity that make life rich enough to be worth living.” By interlocking memory and imagination, Gerber crafts a gleaming future, where the light and the dark don’t just coexist––they create a new color entirely.
Co-producing with Madeline Kenney, she shunned the usual process of seeking constant feedback, and instead leaned into a more isolated process, later producing much of the record at home. On nights and weekends in-between their day jobs, Alex Oñate joined Gerber and Kenney on drums to record, while Gerber also collaborated remotely with Megan Benavente on bass and Lauren Elizabeth Baba on violin and viola.
This somewhat secluded process serves as a mirror to the deeply introspective and thoughtful nature of Meet Me At The Gloaming, where Gerber explores her upbringing, much of which took place under the watchful gaze of a spiritual teacher who led her mother to completely uproot their lives, and move the family from Northern California to Southern Oregon. But this isn’t a scathing composition of redemption or revenge; instead, Gerber parses out her own history with care and grace.
A.O. Gerber Live Dates
11th Nov - Manchester, UK @ Gullivers
12th Nov - Glasgow, UK @ The Great Western
13th Nov - Newcastle, UK @ Cumberland Arms
15th Nov - Bristol, UK @ Crofters Rights
16th Nov - London, UK @ Folklore
