Hope Alane: Twisted Sky

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Music certainly does not need to be groundbreaking to be great, and there is a lot to be said for any artist who simply enjoys, and is committed to, her music.

Still, it is extremely gratifying to come across an artist who has actually created something a little different, and on the infrequent occasions when it happens, I get happy about music all over again (not that I'm ever unhappy about it, per se). Hope Alane is the latest such artist to cross my path, and with her album Pink Sky Blue, she has put her own unique stamp on the "folky pop" sound.

It's a bit difficult to describe just how the album is different; but between the writing and the arrangements, Hope Alane and her semi-anonymous collaborator "John" have created a sound that steadfastly avoids the pitfalls of both Pop and Folk. And I appreciate that very, very much. There is an occasional hippie vibe that permeates some tracks, but just as often the sound is thoroughly modern -- epic, even. Occasionally it's all of those at the same time. Although the sound is very different from Tegan and Sara, the mood is similar: The girl with the acoustic guitar is really just the secret identity of a one-woman supergroup. (Two women, obviously, in Tegan and Sara's case.)

(With all this talk of originality, it occurred to me after a repeat listening that some people may cite the song "Spinning World" as sounding a bit like "Stupid Girl" by Garbage. But that song was based entirely off a sample of "Train in Vain" by The Clash, so let's all calm down about what constitutes originality.)

I may have mentioned this before, but one problem that I like to have is being unable to decide which tracks from a particular album to add to the playlist. It means that every song on the album is worthy of airplay, and that, my friends, is a joyous occasion. Sadly, due to the arcane, counter-intuitive and, well, fucked-up copyright rules of the United States, I am limited to playing only a few tracks from any one album. In this case, I chose "Earth's Full", "Patience" and "Spinning World", although it hurt me deeply to leave out "Brave".

Happily, you will be able to listen to every wonderful track as many times as you want, when you follow the link above and purchase the album!

A lot of people ask me (well, some of them...well, one of them...in my head...) how I pick the artists I play on FEMALE FRONT. The truth is, I rarely turn down submissions from independent artists who fit the eclectic genres that I play. But if I had to single-out which kinds of projects attract me the most, it would be the ones where either the music is a little bit twisted...or the artist is. "Twisted", in the world of DJ Arhythmius, is always a good thing, and always a compliment.

To Hope Alane: Thank you for doing something a little bit different, or as I like to think of it, a little bit twisted.