PREVIEW: Alessi’s Ark @ Hare & Hounds, May 1st

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Alessi’s Ark, aka Alessi Laurent Marke, performs at the Hare and Hounds on Wednesday May 1st.

A gentle but potent songwriter, Alessi’s Ark has garnered general industry acclaim across the past half decade; maintaining her identity within a burgeoning acoustic scene.

Squeezing 10 UK dates into 11 days, the singer/songwriter is touring to promote her third album, ‘This Still Life’ – released in the UK on April 15th.

Alessi’s Ark will continue the promo trail across Europe and America, before returning to the UK for a handful of festivals, including the Moseley Folk on Sat August 31st.

Living the actual dream of many X Factor shadow puppets, Alessi Laurent-Marke was ‘discovered’ whilst still at school, after writing her first song, ‘Glendora’, for her GCSE coursework.

Encouraged by the faculty, and supported by her parents, the young Laurent-Marke decoded to dip her toes into professional music; selling her debut EP, ‘Bedroom Bound’, at gigs and through MySpace.

After playing ‘anywhere’, and picking up online momentum through social media and music sites, Alessi Laurent-Marke signed with Virgin Records on June 29th 2007 – the eve of her 17th birthday. With no public breakdown, tears over ill relatives or sensational story of redemption.

Her debut album, ‘Notes from the Treehouse’, was released in May 2009 – and recorded at Mike Mogis’ and Conor Oberst’s studio in Omaha. It is reported that Laurent-Marke cited the American folk group, Bright Eyes, as ‘dream producers’ for her major label debut.

Despite a strong reception from the music press, and subsequent support tours with Laura Marling, Mariee Sioux, Emilíana Torrini and Cerys Matthews, Alessi’s Ark left Virgin in February 2010 – signing to Bella Union to release her second album, ‘Time Travel, on April 25th 2011.

It would be another two years until her third album, ‘This Still Life’, was released – again on Bella Union.

Alessi’s Ark performs at the Hare & Hounds on Wednesday May 1st. For details and tickets, visit http://hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/event-listings/event/?eventID=10026000 

For more on Alessi’s Ark, including full tour dates and digital downloads of ‘This Still Life’, visit http://www.alessisark.com/