Alessi's Ark interview

So with a fantastic new EP out (the gorgeous Soul Proprietor), I popped along to see the lovely Alessi play a free in-store at the chilled and relaxed record store Pure Groove Records in London. As usual her all-too-short set was frill-free but with a three-piece band behind her, made up of members of the Sons Of Noel & Adrian, she sounded better, more complete, and perhaps best of all, louder than ever. Other than treating us to new songs from the EP and a couple of old favourites from her debut album, she also tried out a new untitled song that looks like it will be on her next release, which she is currently recording, and happily it sounds a little twangier, slightly more mature, yet still filled with her innocent charm. In short, very promising indeed.
I also had the chance to talk to the lady herself (who was responsible for my favourite album of last year) for the website Hive Magazine. You can also read it below:

You’re now on Bella Union, home of Fleet Foxes, Beach House and Midlake. Is this a new start? It seems like a perfect fit. 

Well, I’m really happy to be there. I was pretty happy to make music regardless of the label, I just felt happy to be on a label. It was nice being on Virgin but it was also nice to have a break from being on any label for a little while. And then I met up with Simon [Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins and Bella Union founder] and he’s super kind and really supportive and encouraging of the music. And I was a fan of the roster anyway. This new EP I’m pretty excited about, just to have these new songs, because, you know, even though the album only came out last year it feels pretty old to me. I’m not unexcited by it but I’m just happy to have these newer songs out because they feel fresh. 

Have you noticed a difference being on an independent like Bella Union to your time at Virgin? 

Yeah, it feels really homely and you don’t have to talk to too many people. You talk to Simon about an idea and he goes “Oh okay” as opposed to going through 17 different people just to get an answer for a simple question. It’s a lot easier. 

There’s a lot a great young folk-influenced acts coming out of London lately and you all seem to know each other (Alessi is currently touring with Laura Marling and has also played with the likes of Mumford & Sons, Johnny Flynn and Treetop Flyers). Do you feel like you’re part of a scene? 

Yeah, I don’t know if it’s a scene necessarily but the same people pop up on the same bills time after time so you get to know each other in kind of a natural way. It’s been lovely touring with Laura. I didn't know her that well but she put on a wonderful show in the summer and I played at that and we did a show in Scotland about two years ago and it was lovely. When I first started playing as The Ark after making the album, I tried to form a band and the first person I started playing music with was a fellow called Ben Lovett and he was sort of my right-hand man. He’s in Mumford & Sons but I still play with him whenever I can. He introduced me to lots of really nice people who play locally and I started to feel a bit more comfortable. I mean, I’m from here but after going to Omaha and making the album I didn't play with anybody and I didn’t know where to look for people to play with when I came back. I just made the album and I didn't know how to present it, so he introduced me to some nice people. I take my hat off to him really. 

So the new EP, Soul Proprietor, has a bit of a country twang to it. Do you see yourself going in that direction? 

I’m a fan of country. My nana likes country the most out of all of us and she’s heard it and she approves so that’s good. [laughs] I’m a big fan of lap steel and slide guitar and I’ll throw that in any song willy-nilly. But I listen to all kinds of stuff; it’s always been that way. I don’t know how much of it comes through the music but I think just feeling at ease to experiment a little bit with sounds through feeling comfortable with who you’re playing with can make it flow off in different ways. So yeah, I’m not opposed to country in any way so maybe we’ll start playing a little more like that, I don’t know. I guess whatever makes sense to the songs. I just take it song by song. 

Were Glendora and Constellations from your debut album really the first songs you ever wrote? 

Yeah, they were actually my G.C.S.E. compositions. I was the drummer in the school band and our music teacher said, to better your grades you can’t just play the drum kit, part of it is composition. So my Dad got me a little midi keyboard and I fiddled around a bit and I had been playing my sister’s guitar for a little while. When I was about 14 or 15 I tried having a go and yeah, I just remember playing them for my drum teacher and my friend who was a singer in the school band and everybody was very encouraging. I liked it so much that I knew I’d like to have a go at playing music. But the thing I was most deep into at school was my fanzine [Brain Bulletin, now a blog on Alessi’s website]. I didn't think I’d start playing music until writing those songs for G.C.S.E. and my parents being so supportive of them. I was and still am more interested in other bands. I still go to shows, I don’t really write about them so much now but I try to keep it up a little bit on my website but my fanzine was my major outlet when I wasn't doing my homework. 

Is it true your dad used to take you to shows? 

I feel like, hands down, if my parents hadn't been so supportive I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this. They’re just really into music. He’d introduce me to stuff and but it was mostly me dragging him out to things that he hadn't heard of and us both falling in love with stuff. But we went to see some cool shows together. Television, there was a year when they toured the UK and they performed the whole of Marquee Moon at Brixton Academy opening up for Patti Smith and that was one of those epic shows. And then they did another show when they performed the album Adventure. But I tip my hat to my parents, they got me into everything. 

You got your first record deal fairly quickly after leaving school. Did you expect it to happen so fast? 

EMI came down to these shows I was doing and they were really encouraging about the music. I just didn't expect that, but I wanted to play a bit more. So I had mixed feeling about it, not in a kind of stand-offish way but I felt I needed to play a bit more before I started talking in that light about anything. And then I sat on their offer to work together for about a year and then I said yes, I’d like to make an album. I was just nervous. And it turned out really great in the end. 

Did recording it in Omaha, Nebraska influence the sound? 

Well I had fun making it. It was the best time ever. Mike Mogis, who I worked with, he’s in a band that I used to write about in Brain Bulletin [Bright Eyes], and so I was quite in awe of working with him anyway. But he met me halfway with all sorts, finishing my musical sentences. The thing is in Omaha everybody is so kind and gifted that if you say, “Can we try a harpsichord on that?” he’d call somebody up and we’d try it. So can we try strings? “Yeah!” He made anything possible. He didn't make creating that sound too difficult because there’s such a hub of creative people there. I don’t think I could have made that record here, even if he had come over, because I just think it might have been tricky to find people that I was so comfortable with that would understand how I wanted things to sound. 

So have you got plans for your next record? 

Yeah, I’m working on new stuff now. We were actually recording last week. We recorded a few songs in Wales. That was amazing. As the songs come, I’m taking them case by case as to whether people should be brought in or whatever. Touring with this band, Sons Of Noel & Adrian, they play on the last song on this EP and they bring something so magic to it I just like playing with them. So yes, we’re trying to get everything together. 

Are you a prolific writer? You always seem to be debuting new songs at your shows. 

It comes in clusters. I think that’s the same for anybody. It happens quite a lot where you think, I’m never going to write anything ever again! But music does come and then the words come. So normally something’s nearly always ticking over. 

Do you think of yourself as a storyteller? People often call your music “fairytale pop” but the songs do seem like little worlds to escape into. 

Well, I’d like it to be like a trip, in all senses of the word, just a bit of transportation somewhere, especially living in London I hope that when you put it on it’s like a little bit of space, maybe some greenery. It’s not like I’ve seen an awful lot of that coming from Hammersmith, we have some parks but it’s not like mountainous or anything. [laughs] But yeah, I’d like [the music] to help you take a step back and think about what is maybe just 30 or 40 minutes away from this town in any direction.