The latest single from New York-based singer-songwriter Phil Gammage is a dark tale of loneliness in the big city. ‘The Woman in the Window’ was written in collaboration with with poet David Schell and together they create a real sense of place and character. As ever, Gammage’s distinctive, powerful vocal gives the song atmosphere, supported by haunting backing vocals from Lizzie Edwards. Meanwhile, the pulsing bass from Jeff Gordon and thumping drums from Michael Fox drive the song along. Gammage is ably supported by a group of talented players, and together they take us back in time, transporting us into the story Gammage tells.
Gammage told AUK about the song: “‘The Woman in the Window’ is a song about unresolved longing, secrecy, fantasy, loneliness, and shame in the big bad city. The protagonist is seeking something emotionally but is not sure what it is he’s looking for, or why he’s searching. He’s aimless and eventually focuses his longing on a woman he sees while riding a train. The resolution of the song is as random as its beginnings. The song is a snapshot of the human condition. Very cinematic…a film in two verses and three minutes.” That sense of cinema informs the accompanying video, which was filmed in New York and put together by PreFab International Ciné. Inspired by the film noir of the 1940s, it puts together sequences of found-photos and newspaper adverts, interspersed with Gammage performing and images of the city, all neon signs and brightly-lit skyscrapers against dark skies. The film and its symbolic images really reinforce the song’s narrative and lonesome feel, particularly the unknown women, nameless and forgotten, in the vintage photographs and the sense of anonymity in the busy city streets.
The single is taken from Gammage’s forthcoming new album, ‘Redeemed’, due for release in June 2023. Throughout the year, Gammage will be performing at festivals and in clubs to promote the album, his ninth full studio release. Check out the new record, it promises to be full of drama and atmospheric power.
