Over a year ago, my friend Craig (now of off-kilter beat combo Joy-Rides) told me excitedly about a new act he'd seen at North London venue Nambucca. I'm genuinely quite surprised more hasn't been said about London teenager Alessi. Despite signing a record deal with Virgin Records/EMI following a self released EP (or two), she seems destined to be known as a token folk act nomination in a future Mercury Music Prize nomination. Speaking of which, I was pretty surprised to discover that Elbow won this year's prize but then again, the nominee list hardly inspired me. But anyways, Alessi.
The obvious point of reference for Alessi's music is Joanna Newsom - they share similar fairy-tale, ethereal, child-like vocals and demeanour. Both have earthly, innocent (my cynical side would rather use the term 'naive') personalities, which I find a bit annoying but it no doubts shapes their respective musical outputs. So possibly an acquired taste but I'd say Alessi is the more accessible of the two while still sharing the same magic you feel with Joanna Newsom. In fact, you can get a more indepth view of Alessi via this handy YouTube vid:
Here's a recent BBC 6Music session, where Alessi also talked about her songwriting and working with Conor Oberst on her forthcoming album. Let's hope the album lives up to the early promise she's shown.
FADED GLAMOUR
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