Timed to coincide with her sold-out show at London’s Union Chapel yesterday, Alela Diane has shared her video for Move Us Blind from her fifth studio album Cusp (9 Feb, AllPoints). It’s also our Song of the Day.
The 11 songs which go to make up Cusp were conjured during a three-week residency in a small A-frame cabin deep within Caldera’s snowy woods, alone for the first time since becoming a mother, she tended to a wood stove, made soup, rediscovered how to be on her own, and wrote songs. “I was just coming back to myself and learning how to take care of me,” she says. “It was really wonderful to be able to get back in touch with my creative side and just reflect on the intensity of what I’d been going through, becoming a mom––reflecting on that from a space where I wasn’t inside of it.”
Cusp was produced by Peter M. Murray and mixed by Noah Georgeson, the album features contributions from heavyweights including Ryan Francesconi (Joanna Newsom), Rob Burger (Iron & Wine), Peter Broderick, Heather Woods Broderick (Sharon Van Etten), Luke Ydstie (Blind Pilot), and Daniel Hunt (Neko Case).
Alela is hopeful that this album, as well as entertaining the listener, will prompt discussions about what we expect from women artists. “As women, our music is sold based on our sex-appeal,” she says. “There’s a lack of spaces for women to move into that aren’t based on appearance. Those are conversations I’m interested in having.”
Order Cusp here: https://aleladiane.lnk.to/CuspALL
Alela Diane Upcoming Dates
13 April: Vooruit, Gent – Belgium
14 April: Doornroosje, Nijmegen – Netherlands
16 April: Hauskonzerte, Munich – Germany
17 April: Brotfabrik, Frankfurt – Germany
18 April: Heimathafen, Berlin – Germany
19 April: Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg – Germany
21 April: Motel Mozaique, Rotterdam – Netherlands
22 April: Het Zonnehuis, Amsterdam – Netherlands
24 April: Theatre de L’ideal, Tourcoing – France
25 April: Stereolux, Nantes – France
26 April: La Cigale, Paris – France
Tickets here: https://aleladiane.com/tour/
Photo Credit: Jaclyn Campanaro