Songs for my unborn #2: Gabriel (Lamb)

Lamb are one of those groups who are iconic for a certain part of the generation who went to university when I did, I think. (see also: U.N.K.L.E., Tricky, Massive Attack).

I was obsessed with their album Trans Fatty Acid for my second and third year and I still consider Gorecki one of the most perfect epic love songs ever written. (It's so very recognisable that when my friend mentioned a particular track that came on as the first dance at a wedding she attended, I immediately knew that it was Gorecki).

Then all went quiet on the Lamb front. After a year or so, towards the end of my MA, I was in Topshop Bluewater with my sister, and a song stopped me in my tracks. There's no mistaking Lou Rhodes' voice - it's deep, thick, guttural and there's something quite primal and raw and yet so beautiful about it. I just knew it was them - but I raced to a monitor to check. Sure enough - and the song was Gabriel. I loved it from that moment, when in the most unlikely and least spiritual of places, it raised the hairs on my arms with its magic. When I first found out that I was pregnant, I just wanted to hear it again.

For me, pregnancy is a miracle, one I have prayed for all my life, and a gift that I have been given that I am thankful for everyday. The lines resonate so much for me now. My little boy is that light that I crave (and indeed, the name we have chosen means light), and even though I know have I managed in my life until now. everything is better, enhanced, and I am stronger, knowing that he, our Jibraeel*, is going to be in our lives in a few short months.



*not his actual name!