Angie Giles - Surface (1993) & Stone Prayers (1996)

Thanks to a request from Giba, I present you with Angie Giles' only two solo albums.  Much thanks to the kind people who saw these on my want list and shared them with me. Funny enough, it was already my next planned post.  This just put a fire under my butt. And since I have little time for the blog lately, it's just as well that I can't find much info on the lady.  I do know that she was born in the UK, but has connections to Perth, Australia. Her big break was in 1988 singing back-up on British singer-songwriter Julia Fordham's debut album.  In 1991, pairing with Fordham collaborator Michael Moran as The Main Thing, she released a remake of Fordham's "My Lover's Keeper".  That same year Fordham recorded a song the duo wrote, "Melt". Soon Giles moved on to a solo career after being signed to Island Records. In 1992 she released the single "Submerge".  This was how I heard of her because I came across the 12" single many years ago, which features remixes by Driza Bone and Perfecto.  The song was an underground club hit, with its soulful and almost deep house sound. The less club bound "Silent Way" was released soon after, but to little fanfare.  Her album Surface followed in 1993, but was only released in Japan due to the lukewarm reception of the singles.  It also included "My Lover's Keeper" and her version of "Melt". She also did a feature vocal on the song "Abracadabra" by Dreams 2 Reality that same year. Following this, she continued to work with Fordham and also did back up vocals for other artists, including Isle postee Eve Gallagher. Then, in 1996, she released her second album, Stone Prayers. It was also a Japan only release, and the vibe was much less soul and much more folk. After this she went back to backing vocals again, most notably appearing on Atomic Kitten's hit "Whole Again". In 2002 she did another feature vocal on the house song "Say You'll Be Mine" by Mimosa.  Moving to the US, she hooked up with her nephew Pat Giles (aka Hiro?) and formed the duo The Life Project. They released two albums, Life Project in 2005 and LP2: The Cut + The Mix in 2008.  Their sound was very chillwave and drum n' bass.  Since then it's anyone's guess what Angie is up to, which is a shame, since she has an amazing deep and soulful voice.  In my opinion, her albums were not the right platform for her voice.  They are somewhat snoozy, and I think she would have been better served to belt out on house songs.  Perhaps this is how she will emerge in the future, as the full on house diva she deserves to be.

UPDATE:  Angie herself wrote and had the following to say.  An honour to have you visit and comment, Angie!  Feel free to fill us in on the rest of your career!

"Wow! Fame at last. Famous for not being famous! Thanks for the amazingly accurate account of at least part of my 35 year career, well done you! By the way, both Life Project albums are still available on iTunes - just sayin'😉. My name is Angie Giles and I approve this message xox."

Download Surface

1 Silent Way
2 Sleeper
3 Submerge
4 My Lover's Keeper
5 Surface
6 Anybody's Guess
7 Melt
8 Liberty
9 Only Human
10 Patch Of Blue
11 Submerge (The Perfecto Remix)

Download Stone Prayers

1 Now You're Gone
2 Save Me
3 In My Dreams
4 Still Call You Baby
5 Main Thing
6 Stone Prayers
7 Nobody Moves Like You
8 House Of Shadows
9 Love's Window
10 Surface In Time
11 Now You're Gone (Extended Mix)