(Make Me A) TRISTE© Mixtape Episode 102: Alison Eales

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Alison Eales

Alison is a long-standing member of the band Butcher Boy, playing piano, accordion and other keyboards as well as arranging for choir and brass. The band have made three studio albums: Profit in Your Poetry (2007), React or Die (2009) and Helping Hands (2011). All of these albums have been well-received, with React or Die featuring in The Times’ top 100 pop albums of the 2000s. The band have also released two EPs. A compilation album, You Had A Kind Face, was released on Needle Mythology in 2022, along with three new songs, with tracks mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road. Butcher Boy have supported bands including Belle and Sebastian, Scritti Politti and The Wedding Present. Eales is also a member of Glasgow Madrigirls and has collaborated with bands including The Color Waves (USA), The Just Joans (Glasgow) and Featherfin (Norway). Mox Nox is her first solo album, to be released on 24 March via Fika Recordings. Mox Nox “is an album about the passing of time – most specifically, the transition from day to night. Its twelve songs explore experiences of all-nighters, anxiety, travel, frustration, and friendship” and was produced by Paul Savage at Chem 19 studios.

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Theory Of Ghosts – EP1

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Francesco Amoroso per TRISTE©

“Music won’t save you from anything but silence/ Not from heartbreak, not from violence“

“Let’s shut the lid on this/ Let’s move this rock and seal this cave/ ‘Cos this show has over-run/ I am done, I am done, I am done/ I’d rather stick a sword in my eye/ Than go through this again/ I am moving to Alaska/ I am moving to the moon/ But you never get/ No, you never get/ Closure“
(G. Johnson)

Nonostante sia uno dei miei parolieri preferiti di sempre, non sono d’accordo con Glen Johnson quando afferma che la musica non possa salvarti da nulla fuorché dal silenzio. A me la musica mi ha sempre salvato da tutto (pleonasmo voluto), forse anche dai numerosi danni che la musica stessa mi ha causato.
Perciò, nonostante un caro amico abbia preso a prestito il verso per dare il nome alla propria webzine, reputo che questa considerazione sia semplicemente il tentativo da parte di un artista fin troppo sensibile di mostrarsi cinico per non risultare fragile e indifeso. Tentativo malriuscito (seppur riuscitissimo dal punto di vista della metrica e musicale) perché (al pari dell’ I Don’t Love Anyone dei Belle And Sebastian) dimostra sostanzialmente il contrario.

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Hansan – Blod Eller Bläck (single release)

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Hansan is a Swedish-German duo consisting of Swedish folk/Americana artist Sofia Talvik (who recently charted with her single Too Many Churches on folk radio U.S., and German cello genius David Floer. Together they create beautiful New Acoustic music under the name Hansan (derived from the Swedish word for the Hanseatic league, a trade union between Sweden and Germany originating in the 12th century). Their debut album Nattflykt was out in 2020 and all the songs are self-composed, inspired by everything from Jazz to old traditional folk songs.
Hansan draw inspiration from the raging seas and the Swedish magical forests, but also covers more difficult subjects such as the me-too movement (Hej Då), immigration (Sjung Min Lilla Näktergal) and break-up and independence (Du Du Du). A new album, Blod Eller Bläckwill be out on February 14th on Makaki Music.

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The Murder Capital – Gigi’s Recovery

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Francesco Giordani per TRISTE©

L’infausta notizia della morte del grande, grandissimo Tom Verlaine (a così pochi giorni peraltro da quelle, non meno impreviste, di Jeff Beck e David Crosby…) mi ha costretto a tornare a riflettere su una delle categorie tassonomiche più sfumate, a tratti francamente indecifrabili, del contemporaneo bestiario musicale: post-punk. Cosa designa, esattamente? E quel che designa, stricto sensu, è veramente lo stesso oggetto musicale a cui ci si riferisce quando oggi si sceglie di appellare una nuova canzone o la band che la intona “post-punk”?

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The Declining Winter – Really Early, Really Late (single premiere)

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The Declining Winter is the band led by Richard Adams, the co-founder of the group Hood. Their sound is a unique blend of influences from lo-fi, electronica and post rock with a strong visual aesthetic inspired by the countryside of Yorkshire. Their debut single was The Future Sound of Hip Hop Parts 1 & 2 on Misplaced Music fifteen years ago. This was followed up by the debut album Goodbye Minnesota released by Rusted Rail in 2008 and, in 2009, by the mini album Haunt the Upper Hallways on Home Assembly Music. After a long period of silence, the band (now consisting solely of Richard Adams with various guests) returned in 2013 and 2014 with a couple of eps and a new album, Home For Lost Souls, in 2015, again on Home Assembly Music. Belmont Slope arrived three year later and, in 2021The Definition Glance 7″ appeared on Spanish indie label Acuarela followed by another single I Remember – the lead track featuring the words of poet Thomas Hood.

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