Alessi's Ark at the Purcell Room

Alessi's Ark
Ralfe Band
Purcell Room, 23 April 2013

Having followed Alessi since the beginning of her career it was quite thrilling to see the London-born chanteuse play a proper grown-up venue all by herself, in the esteemed South Bank Centre no less, in the lovely Purcell Room. The first time I saw her live it was sitting on the floor of a tiny barge, appropriately enough, moored near the Vauxhall Bridge, now here she is on a fancy stage playing to a seated audience. After the show she even says to me "I can't believe I'm here, it's all like a dream" and it certainly has been a wonderful journey, although I do think Alessi's deserves to be much bigger than she is. Maybe that will all change with the release of her great new album, The Still Life, which this show is promoting.

Arriving on stage wearing the floor length flowered dress she sports in the back cover photo on the album and her hair gently waved, she looks like the perfect modern-day folk cover girl. She still has that endearing awkwardness about her but as a performer she is getting better and better. On top of this her band is without doubt the best she has ever had. The last time I saw her I felt her band overwhelmed her a little but this time she is touring just as a three piece, with a nicely understated drummer and a superb guitarist called Dan Hoyes, who also plays a variety of other instruments when needed. This is the perfect ensemble for Alessi's music: bringing a fuller sound and helping recreate her records when needed but not too convoluted to drown her soft vocals out. 

Starting off with the breathy Sans Balance, which sees Alessi singing dreamily in French, only one of the first ten songs isn't from the new album. This is fine with me as they all sound great and I love getting to hear the new material live, although my one criticism is one that she keeps mentioning herself: "all my songs are quite short I'm afraid" she tells us. It's true that Alessi has never been big on stretching her songs out longer than she has to but the new album the songs seem shorter than ever, most barely making it to a minute and a half. By this stage in her career I thought maybe she would be becoming more adventurous with her music but she seems too comfortable with such brief tunes or maybe afraid to experiment to see where they could go and it's true that some feel unfinished and like they haven't been fully realised, it's the one flaw of the latest album which has 13 songs but is just half an hour long.
This also means her live show is more start-stoppy than it should be and doesn't flow as much as I'd like it too, especially as she rarely expands the songs live either (although this is the first show of the tour so that may change). Tellingly the best song on the new album is also the longest: the glistening folk meets electronica of The Rain. When they attempt to perform it tonight a failing guitar leads to one of the most magical moments, as they are forced to play it acoustically and, at Hoyes suggestion, they forego microphones altogether, playing at the edge of the stage to a completely enthralled audience, showing that she and her band can beautifully improvise when needs be.

Aside from the newer songs there's also a few tracks from each of her two previous albums with the stripped down Constellations and always special Woman sounding particularly magical. There's also a gorgeous performance of Hummingbird in the encore where Alessi begins the song solo with her band coming in and joining her at the very end: it's one of the highlights of the show. The whole thing ends with Alessi's cool cover of The National's Afraid Of Everyone, funnily enough the most danceable moment of the night, although the audience remain respectfully enthralled in their seats throughout.

Alessi is as adorable as ever, charming the audience with her bad jokes and sweet stories, it helps create a genuinely warm atmosphere. Hopefully as the tour progresses the band will become a little more adventurous with the songs but even if they don't, it is always a true pleasure to see Alessi's Ark live and I can't imagine anyone leaving without a smile on their faces.

Supporting Alessi tonight was Ralfe Band, who I must admit I mostly know for recording the soundtrack to the surreal comedy Bunny And The Bull. Their set began as a typical but talented new folk ensemble but became more interesting when band leader Oly Ralfe abandoned his acoustic guitar and moved behind the keyboard creating darker sounding more baroque stylings. The highlight was one of the songs from Bunny And The Bull, a kind of dark cabaret feel, which was definitely interesting. Good stuff.