Alessi's Ark: The Horse EP
Alessi's Ark releases The Horse EP
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Thursday, 11, Dec 2008 12:05
Virgin, out now.
In a nutshell.
Cloying, irritating, trying too hard.
What's it all about?
This is a four-track EP from Alessi's Ark, released as a taster from her debut album, expected in the new year.
Who's it by?
Eighteen-year-old Londoner Alessi Laurent-Marke produced this, her first offering, in collusion with Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes fame.
As an example...
"What's inside your eyes?/May I climb inside?/Is it a surprise?/Some kind of time-lapse?" - Neighbour's Birds
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
While this winsome brand of deliberately esoteric peculiarity doesn't scream mainstream appeal, it has some definite crossover potential.
What the others say
"Good for what it is, but when there are so many artists doing such similar things, better, it's as hard to think of who exactly will fall in love with this as it is to imagine anyone hating it." - ClickMusic.com
So is it any good?
While this is undoubtedly an impressive offering from one so young, there's something indefinably irritating about the record. Alessi's breathy vocals are too self-conscious, the arrangements either from too polished or deliberately jarring. Somehow nothing about the record rings true.
The only time when this winsome persona lifts is when the second track, Neighbour's Birds, gets going: a loping, bluesy riff drives the song along while a beautiful harpsichord line - very reminiscent of Tori Amos' Blues For Pele - adds a sinister note which somehow doesn't seem as forced as elsewhere on the record. The choice of instrument is also atypical of the rest of the tracks, as it seems to have been chosen because it suits the song, because it needs to be there, rather than in a conscious effort at eccentricity.
What's surprising is that, in interviews, Laurent-Marke doesn't come across as at all pretentious: it's possible that the EP's cloying nature is the result of too much prodding in the wrong direction on the part of producer Mike Mogis, or of a misguided effort to emulate her musical heroes.
All this is very frustrating, because it seems certain that underneath the pretension, ostentation and ethereal backing singers could lie a real talent: if she'd only just open her voice up and sing rather than simper, her work would be improved immeasurably. We can only hope that she has a truly honest album in her.
4/10
Hannah Tipple