Collaboration brings a beautiful folk album with words of love.
This is Alela Diane’s seventh album, and the story behind it starts with the death at the age of eighty-three of her great friend Michael Hurley. He was a stalwart of the folk scene in Portland, Oregon, where Diane now lives. She had been looking after her young daughters and had put her music career a little on the back burner. However, playing at a tribute to Hurley inspired her and made her realise how much she wanted to connect to Portland’s musical community. She had been a solo performer on her later releases but now wished to make music with others.
After meeting and bonding with drummer Danny Austin-Manning, they realised that they could record an album in Diane’s attic. She linked up with friends Peter Lalish, from the band Lucius, who plays guitar on the album, and Anna Tivel, who adds violin and backing vocals. Sam Weber was drafted in to co-produce and mix the album, and they also recruited Sebastian Owens (bass), Katie Claborn (various instruments, including clarinet) and Peter Ydstie (various instruments, including pedal steel), amongst others. They lugged equipment up the three flights to the attic and recorded fifteen “live” songs in five days. They all just seemed to “click”, with Diane saying “it just came really easily… I think that’s a testament to finding the right people”.
The result of this harmony is an album of rich folk music with memorable melodies and hooks, which brings a warm, calm feeling as you listen. Centred on Diane’s beautiful, clear vocals, there is a huge range of instruments used. For example, high-strung baritone, nylon-string, rubber-bridge, lead and pedal steel guitars are used. But you also hear clarinets, piano, Wurlitzer, banjo, and violin, amongst others, in various songs. Backing vocals from many of the musicians complement Diane’s voice, and there is also a bit of whistling from Diane. This may alarm readers, remembering Roger Whittaker, but it works well. The tracks generally have acoustic guitar picking to the forefront, with other instruments gently filling in behind. Where this is not the case, for example, on In My Own Time and Could Be, there is a nice groove and piano or keyboard taking the lead.
There is a lot of love in the lyrics, and this is never a bad thing, though this seems rarely to be romantic love. Wide Open Spaces is about her brother, who is different from her and seems troubled, but they connect through their love of the outdoors, “And that’s enough”. To Be Kind is addressed to a difficult child, where there is unconditional love, “Even when you’re screaming, mad — I love you”. The two closers, Fragile As A Flame and Endless Waltz, deal with the finite nature of life, with the latter being a tribute to her grandparents: “All those years of loving/ And they’ll pass the torch at sunset/ To their children on the shore/ Their love, an endless river”. And there is also a moving tribute to Michael Hurley, with the poignant words “Spring is a fine time to die”.
Elsewhere, there is a love of nature on In My Own Time, where the listener is urged to fully savour the world around. In a similar vein, the wonderful opener, California, has evocative words about her memories of that state. Things take a darker turn on Dusty Road, where a young mother working as a waitress tries to find something in one-night stands: “She gets off work/ Goes downtown/ Whiskey drowned / Find some stranger/ To hold like a key”. There is political rage at the state of the US on Piss, Coffee, Blood Or Wine?, written after seeing a man lying on the street: “They line their pockets with our souls/ Men holding guns, and hiding money/ Always at the church on Sunday”.
Diane has said about making the record, “It felt imperative to connect with artists I respected and get reacquainted with my own town”. This seems to have worked very well in rekindling her passion for writing and performing music, and for connecting with others, but also in the creation of this beautiful album.
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