My addiction strikes again. My dual addictions if truth be told. The primary addiction is always a fluid thing. Sometimes it is the sonic satisfaction of the spinning vinyl and sometimes it is the exquisite charms of the female voice that bring the most pleasure.
So there it was all forlorn and looking for a home. Ten inches of vinyl called “Alela & Alina”. A nice name to put to a record. Kind of straightforward yet with its own poetry. I repeat Alela & Alina until the man behind the counter starts to look worried. Buy it now as it is time for a sharp exit.
A good choice it was too. My insatiable appetite for harmonies was soon to be satisfied as Alela Diane and Alina Hardin took their voices and guitars and set off down the Americana highway. The insert carries the subtitle: a collaboration old and new and borrowed. And so it is. From the traditional, as in British folk music traditional – “Matty Groves” through the reverential version of Townes Van Zandt’s “Rake” to the fragile elegance of “Crying Wolf”, this is an understated collection of songs that increase their grip on you with each play and, in this crash bang wallop world that we are forced to live in, they provide proof that subtlety achieves more than shouting ever could.
Purveyors of charm in what can often be a charmless genre, Alela & Alina manage to make the idea of travelling the American folk trail distinctly appealing and more than somewhat addictive.
Reviewed on vinyl. This release is a limited edition of 1000 copies.