Alela Diane
The Pirate's Gospel

THE REVIEW

Nevada City, on the border between Reno and Sacramento, is a small town of three thousand souls where everything evokes the ancient mining community, the gold rush, and the archaic life of families in the forests. Alela Diane was born and raised in these places of Northern California and tells primitive stories, rooted in the myth of the Frontier, of a Promised Land, a hope for a few chosen ones in search of fortune. When nature was a silent spectator, a loyal but sometimes hostile companion, that could harm.

These are stories of a young woman suspended in time, those she listened to as a child at home, with the attentive and curious eyes of pups hungry for the world. As if the yellowed and buried photos from centuries past, which Alela loved to observe, came to life with distant faces, forgotten gestures, and the harsh struggle for survival. The voice of the American storyteller is the ancestral echo of the spirits in the woods, the whisper of the wind among century-old shrubs, the immortal pride of a Modoc tribe. Sing to me of the long walks on the stone path that leads to the shore ("My Tired Feet"), use your words of sand and talk to me of joy, regret, atonement ("The Rifle"). You can blame the sky for your mistakes, even if you know that the reflection of our sins will run in the water ("Can you blame the sky, when a mama leaves her babies behind..Can you blame the sea, ‘cause she's a flowing in that water deep..").

"The Pirate's Gospel" was initially a collection of home demos, recorded by Diane with the help of her musician father. A handful of acoustic and bare tracks that already revealed the extraordinary artistic sensitivity of this modern Karen Dalton. Supported by the U.S. new-folk scene, Alela began touring with her friend Joanna Newsom and Akron\Family, and in 2006 the independent Holocene Music released a first version of "The Pirate's Gospel". Which in 2007 would be reissued in its definitive form, with small notes of piano and slide-guitar, by the French label Fargo.

The music of "The Pirate's Gospel" is a journey elsewhere, lulled by the expressive nudity of the six-string. An album destined for classic status thanks to the primordial enchantment of the double voices of Alela and the children's choirs in "Pieces Of String". For the absolute dreamlike suggestion of "Clickity Clack". And for the moving final dedication in which she recounts maternal wishes ("Oh! My Mama"). The "deluxe edition" reissue in a digipak contains the memorable "Heavy Walls", "Gipsy Eyes", and a bonus-DVD with 3 videos + live clips.

Alela Diane steals the heart from the very sepia-colored cover of the album, a timeless image showing the folk singer with the clothes and long black hair of a Native Indian. A poetic ghost from a remote era. The eternal gaze, the proud and wise face of the people who populate her rural and noble tales. Because the past is the sacred river of humanity and "..I'll never tip-toe across my home ever again..Ever again, ever again..And foreign tongue ties me here. Foreign tongue ties me here.."