The Gift was all set to release their fifth album, the conceptual ‘Seven Seasons’, by early autumn last year. But life (as John Lennon so aptly put it) ‘is what happens when we’re busy making other plans’! Stef Dickers (bassist of ten years’ standing) was the last remaining original member aside from Mike Morton. He was reluctant to leave the lineup, but was forced to for personal reasons. At the same time, Gabriele Baldocci (the band’s long-serving and hugely talented keyboard player) simply found balancing his jobs as piano professor in three music schools with playing in a band too much to manage, so he bowed out with both regret and good grace.
The core team of Mike Morton (vocals), Cris Tortoioli (guitar/production) and Chris Taylor (drums) went in search of fresh talent to be reborn as the quintet they really wanted to be.
The next 5 months were spent searching for replacements. After multiple auditions and a few false starts, The Gift finally found a solution within ex-BEM label mates The Far Meadow. Mainstays of the outfit, Eliot Minn (keyboards) and Keith Buckman (bass) agreed to join. It is a very sweet experience to combine forces with musicians whom they both like and have full respect for. Now, regrouped and revitalised, The Gift is in the final stages of tracking, mixing and mastering for their imminent realise, the story of a life. It is due to finally emerge in late summer of this year.
On Monday 14th April, the single Sweet Bird Of Youth will be released as a taster for what’s to come.
You can order the track here: