Ali Marcus
This spring things are changing up a bit. Ali spent the last year releasing two full length records and singing on stages across the country. Somewhere along the way she pulled Hanon’s 'Virtuoso Pianist in Sixty Exercises' off the bookcase, which prompted her fingers to remind her brain that there was a lot of work still to be done. For a gal who began playing the piano at age four, earned a bachelor’s degree in music, and has since landed somewhere along the career path of a folksinger, Hanon is pure inspiration.
Turtle Rock Records is pleased to announce the 'Mostly Piano EP', released in limited edition on April 26 at the Station in Seattle, WA. Recording sessions generally began with Hanon, of course, and then an hour or two of Ali’s favorite classical pieces [maybe Rachmaninoff’s 'Prelude in C-Sharp Minor,' Bach’s 'Invention No. 13,' Mendelssohn’s 'Rondo Capriccioso']. Ali then ran her own songs through some headphones and wrote on the spot piano parts, sometimes filling in a voice, other times rewriting the song for solo piano. As with all her recordings, the tracks are done in full takes.
The result is an exploration of Ali’s intimate relationship with the piano. The folksinger reconciles with the classicist in strange ways; for instance, the piano plays the role of the title character in “Even Tinkerbell,” it plays a symphony in “The Lucky Ones,” a tale of an early morning on Seattle’s Ballard Avenue, and it even stumbles across a mash-up with one of the most famous piano songs of all time on “Daisy Chains and Buttercups.”
That’s not all. The Seattle Weekly called her newest band, the Sweetheart Army, “a collaboration so lovely that even Seattle’s music connoisseurs/snobs should welcome them with open arms.” Her old time duo, the Old Bay Warblers, will be releasing 'The Blackest Crow EP' and performing their first official show on the mainstage at the Northwest Folklife Festival on Memorial Day weekend. Another limited edition solo EP will be out come summertime, and a solo full length awaits in the fall.
For complete details on Ali’s shows, please check the calendar.