Live Review and Interview with Alain from Isabel At Sunset (Tea Kettle Records) (2/3) By Michelle Dee

(1/3), (2/3), (2/3).

Photography Gallery Isabel At Sunset Gallery 1,   Gallery 2,   Rocky Nest Gallery,   People Gallery.

Alain describes the band as being two-headed, in that it has a literary quality and a more musical side. Some of the song writing is influenced by the music of Belle and Sebastian and some notable American literary giants; indeed the band name, Isabel at Sunset, was inspired by Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. Growing up in Parma Alain hungrily fed his two main passions, those being literature and music. He spent whatever spare money he had on CDs and books. Alain has a love for literary heavyweights and admits to being influenced by Dickens, Twain, Melville, Austen and more recently Philip Roth but he says with a smile that he failed to finish Moby Dick.

The band also have an obsession with British and American Sci-fi, the debut album sleeve features images from Star Trek, Star Wars and The Saint as well as recurring motifs and scenes reminiscent of fifties Americana. Keen observers among you will note the repeated amalgamation of British and American contemporary cultures that is reflected within the music. Alain started playing piano at the age of twelve he described his passion for piano as being curious for the keys. He met Dan, guitarist and Kev, drums in 2006, so successful was this meeting that the debut album Meet The Gang was written within the year.

The band released the album through Tea-Kettle Records in 2007 and it received glowing reviews from across the globe. Including more than a handful of accolades from treblezine.com, indiepages.com, stylusmagazine.com Glasswerk National, God Is In The TV, Rock On and Music Boom from Italy. Alain admits that the reviews got better the further from Italy the zines and sites originated. Isabel's music describes a cynical view of contemporary storytelling, they choose to take an ironic stance on life looking to find a different story from the one everyone else is regurgitating.

Alain explained that with the bands full five piece kick ass formation, future material will attempt to take the left field angle further with a Syd Barrett and Neil Young permutation within a psycho folk base.

He talks passionately about keyboards with attitude and music created with childhood toys: the crafting of melancholic soundscapes intricate and involved bolstered by heavy layers of Wurlitzer atmospherics. Alain suggests that the band's live sound is different from the album and that often the live experience is a different listening experience every time. When seeing the live band you appreciate the fun elements, the upbeat raucous off handedness as Alain switches from open mic singing to using a minute megaphone distorting the clipped lyrics. Lyrics that although sung and spoken in English are strangely accentuated so often surprise and sound refreshingly different.

Continued .... Next Page (3/3)

Photography Gallery Isabel At Sunset Gallery 1,   Gallery 2,   Rocky Nest Gallery,   People Gallery.

Photographs courtsey and Copyright © 2007  Michelle Dee

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