Ears Wide Open: Daphne Gale

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Daphne Gale (Photo by Kane Borchert)

Singer-songwriter Daphne Gale makes folk music flecked with jazz, sophisticated but uncluttered compositions accented by her cleared-eyed vocals and conversational lyrics.

The New York-bred artist arrived in L.A. in early 2020 via Vermont, where she worked on a farm for a time after graduating from Wesleyan University, and set about kick-starting the next phase of her music career. The songwriter, who released the album “Eventide” in 2018 under her birth name Daphne Gampel, in January released her first Daphne Gale single, “Down Jacket.”

She followed with “Twin Flames,” a song that features Charlie Hickey on guitar and background vocals, before unveiling “Early Twenty Something” today. It’s the latest from Gale’s full-length, “Nomadder,” which is planned for a May release. The new song is a collaboration with two of Gale’s childhood pals, singers Julia Gargano and Brendan Smith (of T.3), and was produced by Chris Peters.

“On my 20th birthday someone jokingly told me ‘Congratulations, your twenties means you’ll never be “good for your age” anymore,’” Gale says. “I never, ever forgot that. Moving from NYC to Vermont to L.A., my twenties have felt like a constant search, just getting started and somehow still always behind. ‘Early Twenty Something’ is an anthem for that anxiety and ambition.”

It’s also Gale’s first song featuring her on piano, notable since she is the daughter of renowned concert pianist Alan Gampel (who, some 50 years ago, made his debut at the Hollywood Bowl at age 7).

||| Stream: “Early Twenty Something”

||| Also: “Twin Flames” and “Down Jacket”