Alice Simmons - State of Mind (single review)
A success in creating a moody tone and a rich sonic soundscape, Alice delivers on more fronts than she has before.
Although sharing neo-expressionist artwork similar to the Jean-Michel Basquiat piece used on The Strokes' most recent LP The New Abnormal, Alice offers a different and a much more fragile effort than Julian Casablancas and company with her new single State of Mind
The track eases in with some haunting vocal notes and a reverb-drenched guitar. That brief vocal passage crying out for some expert panning work to swirl around in the mix. Even though that wasn't delivered, the tone is still crafted well enough for the track that lays ahead. Alice seems much more comfortable in the lower register than the pantheon of female singer-songwriters I've seen attempting it, this is because it simply feels more genuine rather than an illusion of maturity. Despite the composition remaining sparse on the route to the first chorus, Alice's storytelling is strongest during this passage. She introduces a mysterious archetype in the form of the "Lady of the night". The lady of the night proceeds to sing a lullaby to the protagonist's lover as they wait outside. Unfortunately, as the composition and production polish the mood off with a dense and rich mix, Alice's storytelling becomes more clique and halfbaked. Although, I do admit it does get especially warm and toastie when the strings, bass, harmonies, and delayed keys accompany Alice's naturally rich voice and it makes up for any pedantic analysis of the lyrics.
State of Mind is a significant improvement to her previous release, Moonrise, which she references in her first verse. I felt the track didn't play into its strengths quite as much as it should have. It stayed in the territory of lounge and easy listening too narrowly without embracing enough influences from chamber pop or jazz to lift it into a territory that would keep me emotionally connected and interested enough in the composition to bring me back more than a few listens. State of mind captures my attention and keeps it much more successfully and improves on all fronts (including the artwork by Asrai - Mia Barrass). I hope that she experiments with crafting denser sonic landscapes in the future and some stronger storytelling, that would really get me excited to lounge and listen to Alice around better than easy listening ever could.
If you're a fan of Late Night Marauders, then I would certainly recommend you check out Alice, although more subdued and fragile than Ruth, I certainly feel like the connection between them needs to be made by someone.
4/5.
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