► Alessi’s Ark + Support (Gig Review)

Alessi’s Ark + Support (Gig Review)
Barfly, 22nd May 2009

By Jake May

Heralded by The Daily Mail as ‘the next Laura Marling’, and featured as The Guardian's 451st band of the day (back in December ‘08), 18-year-old Alessi and her Ark had a fair amount of hype to live up to.

But first on the bill was Lewis Larke Band hailing from Barcelona (probably enjoying the football results of late). Innocence and modesty in abundance, the three-piece almost naively described the meaning behind each of their funk-influenced indie pop songs (somewhere in between Phoenix and Spin Doctors) to a largely unappreciative Barfly (until, of course, they were offered free CDs). I enjoyed it seemingly more than the rest of the crowd, not least for the keys player playing basses with one hand (on a keyboard) and Booker T styled grooves with the other. Impressive.

Local (evident from the rugby crowd-esque cheers) acoustic folk act Paper Aeroplanes were next up, with full band backing (that was opted against for the preceding London dates). But the rowdy Barfly was soon silenced by the beauty of lead-singer Sarah’s sometimes pop, sometimes country sounding vocals, accompanied by the impressively mixed cocktail of piano, two finger-picked folky-sounding acoustic guitars, and violin. The Welsh act was well received by the crowd, as well as Alessi and the keyboardist from Lewis Larke Band; turning to me to remark “she has a great voice, eh?”.

With both support bands complete, extravagantly dressed Alessi, armed with an acoustic guitar, soon took stage with her accompanying group of Ark friends. Quirky and charming, she wished the crowd a good night, dedicating a song “for Colin and his wife”, before wowing the locals with the power and intrigue of her voice; a sort of Bjork/Laura Marling hybrid. Not only was her voice impressive, but so were the pop-influenced folk songs, mostly taken from debut album ‘Notes from the Treehouse’, which boasted a slightly unusual, but ultimately catchy, feel. A highly enjoyable performance from the young-group, who even managed to turn forgotten intro’s to songs into smiles from the crowd. Hype truly lived up to.

Retro / Music / September 2009 / Alessi's SArk