The Still Life

With the indie genre being so flush over the last decade or so it’s hard to find music that doesn’t sound like, well, other music from the same genre. My luck with female lead bands has been pretty poor lately. The genre’s mainstream highlights are mostly infused with singer/songwriters and their piano’s playing delicate music engulfed in sorrowful songs about love, loss of love, and, oh yeah, love. It’s times like this when I come across female  singer/songwriters like Alessi’s Ark that I feel that maybe music of this particular style isn’t lost in a tumble of monotony.

First off, I absolutely love Alessi Laurent-Marke’s voice. It can be as playful and sugary sweet as Juliette Paquereau (Diving With Andy), as dangerous and sultry as Bjork, but all together refreshing, mixing Jazz like qualities with a heavy dose of pop sensibilities.

The album as a whole is rich with a great crisp production giving life to every instrument and giving a clear, but not overpowering channel to Alessi’s vocals. Guitar is dreamy at times, reminding me of Elbow, and very much a true character in the whole scheme of things. Backing vocals offer up a nice flare. Drums, subtle enough to not overpower the formula of guitar and vocals, but keen on setting pace with style.

I wasn’t expecting this album to have such a huge sound. Lots of nice effects go into making this album memorable, but they’re never used as a crutch. Familiar enough to capture you with the nostalgic factor but fresh enough that you’re never stuck. Highly enjoyable stuff.