Alice Boman Brings Sweet Tidings To The Empty Bottle
By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 11, 2014 7:00PM
The adjective "lo-fi" is one of those lazy terms used by music writers (and publicists) to connote a kind of human warmth captured with analog honesty, as if tape hiss was automatic proof of some sort of authenticity.
So, yes, one could describe Alice Boman's EP II as lo-fi. But better just to say that it has the moving quality of a simple, direct performance. A girl singing in a big, empty room with a few instruments. Her voice, which to our ears could be favorably compared to Blossom Dearie and Julee Cruise, sketches out lyrics of wistful longing in an unadorned fashion that's haunting. (Indeed, an earlier set of tracks is titled Skisser, "sketch" in Swedish; they were recorded as demos but released as-is by Adrian Recordings.) After listening to several of her tunes on SoundCloud, it's hard to think of a more fitting soundtrack to the arrival of autumn. We've been listening to her song "Over" ... well, over and over.
A rock club isn't necessarily the best place to listen to such introspective music, but the Empty Bottle is where she'll be on Sept. 27, and it's a show that shouldn't be missed. A 6 p.m. start time promises a quieter than usual atmosphere. We're already looking forward to nursing a beer while allowing her music to wash over us.