British-born, Paris-based artist ALA.NI U.S. has announced that her debut album YOU & I will see release in the U.S. through Missing Piece Records, distributed via Caroline in Spring 2017. With all songs written & produced by ALA.NI, the album was recorded in London at Owl Studios (owned by Sade’s Andrew Hale) and Studio 13 (owned by Damon Albarn which makes sense as Ala.ni did backing vocals for Blur earlier in her career and Albarn has become a trusted mentor). The album saw rapturous response when it came out in Europe and the UK earlier in 2016. For those attending the annual APAP Conference in NYC, she will make her debut performing as part of the Summerstage/Twilight Concerts summer preview showcase on January 5th at the Highline Ballroom alongside BADBADNOTGOOD, Dayme Arocena and Lady Wray. ALA.NI stopped many people dead in their tracks when she appeared on Later...with Jools Holland late last year, performing ‘Cherry Blossom’ with a Disney-gone-noir vocal, as compulsively anachronistic as the sensibility of the track itself. ALA.NI arrived with a voice that seems to take in the cadences of musical history, and an idiosyncratic creative approach to conveying her music, including spooky, self-produced Super 8 videos, 19th century photo techniques for album packaging and release formats that include wax cylinder recordings and even a miniature music box. Her vocal stylings have been compared to Billie Holiday, Minnie Ripperton, Lena Horne, Judy Garland or Julee Cruise, but this is no nostalgia trip and to make these simple comparisons would be, as Glamour noted “a disservice because the thing about this West London-born singer is that she is totally unique.”
