One of the finest Folk-Rock albums in recent years actually suffered a bit of under-appreciation in 2011, or at least was damned by faint praise. Latching onto the fact that Alela left behind the stripped back, purely acoustic sounds of her first two albums and brought in a backing band, many rather dismissively called this an attempt at a pop album. The narrow minded opinion of "I like the early work of Alela Diane" could be heard spoken by some who really should know better. But then, wasn't it always this way with the folk crowd? That anti Dylan going electric mentality sometimes still rises to the surface you know. In an entirely unrelated incident, I attended a Michelle Shocked gig in Cambridge a few years ago when one disgruntled audience member got the singers attention and forcefully requested that she ask her band to stop playing along with her. And this was after Michelle had opened the evening by playing a solo acoustic set! Anyway, wade through all the waffle that can fly around when an artist makes a, to my ears inevitable, shift in direction and the only thing to conclude with 'Alela Diane & Wild Divine' is that it is a quite beautiful record. The accompaniment brings a sweet honey-like fluidity to the song suite, at times Country and others Acid-Folk but always an aural delight. Yes the air of the Laurel Canyon that I loved so much on the Jonathan Wilson album floats around, so maybe there's an element of personal preference here; but I'll back my own tastes on this one. Alela's voice is hypnotic, sweet and pure; no vibrato, just a sharp and soulful instrument of aching loveliness. The songs too are keepers, the kind that stay with you for a while. Take a couple of listens to 'Elijah' or 'Suzanne' and I guarantee those chorus lines will be with you for days. So please take note of this one, some artists do lose identity and direction or just simply run out of ideas once they stray from the pure essence of whatever element brought them to attention in the first place. Alela Diane on the other hand is clearly not of that ilk; her 2011 'electric' album showing her potential to make some of the best singer-songwriter music we'll find in the coming years.Wednesday 28 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.5 - ALELA DIANE, Alela Diane And Wild Divine
One of the finest Folk-Rock albums in recent years actually suffered a bit of under-appreciation in 2011, or at least was damned by faint praise. Latching onto the fact that Alela left behind the stripped back, purely acoustic sounds of her first two albums and brought in a backing band, many rather dismissively called this an attempt at a pop album. The narrow minded opinion of "I like the early work of Alela Diane" could be heard spoken by some who really should know better. But then, wasn't it always this way with the folk crowd? That anti Dylan going electric mentality sometimes still rises to the surface you know. In an entirely unrelated incident, I attended a Michelle Shocked gig in Cambridge a few years ago when one disgruntled audience member got the singers attention and forcefully requested that she ask her band to stop playing along with her. And this was after Michelle had opened the evening by playing a solo acoustic set! Anyway, wade through all the waffle that can fly around when an artist makes a, to my ears inevitable, shift in direction and the only thing to conclude with 'Alela Diane & Wild Divine' is that it is a quite beautiful record. The accompaniment brings a sweet honey-like fluidity to the song suite, at times Country and others Acid-Folk but always an aural delight. Yes the air of the Laurel Canyon that I loved so much on the Jonathan Wilson album floats around, so maybe there's an element of personal preference here; but I'll back my own tastes on this one. Alela's voice is hypnotic, sweet and pure; no vibrato, just a sharp and soulful instrument of aching loveliness. The songs too are keepers, the kind that stay with you for a while. Take a couple of listens to 'Elijah' or 'Suzanne' and I guarantee those chorus lines will be with you for days. So please take note of this one, some artists do lose identity and direction or just simply run out of ideas once they stray from the pure essence of whatever element brought them to attention in the first place. Alela Diane on the other hand is clearly not of that ilk; her 2011 'electric' album showing her potential to make some of the best singer-songwriter music we'll find in the coming years.
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