Jenni Stalmach is charmed.
Chatting to Alessi’s Ark is like a little ray of sunshine on a dull day. “I’m not like anyone else,” chuckles Alessi Laurant-Marc as we natter about the release of her debut album Notes From The Treehouse. And after speaking to the teenage songbird I can’t help but agree.
Alessi Laurant-Marc, who’s just turned 19, is part of the capital’s flourishing nu-folk movement and the London-born teen has quickly caught the eye of the UK folk scene with her honeyed, indie-rock, fairy tales.
She happily chats to me about her new album and enthuses about the final product. “I’m so, so happy with how the album turned out,” she says, “There are special things that I love about every song but I must say I’m supremely pleased with The Dog. I’ve had chance to work with so many special people on the record.”
Despite Alessi being a fresh addition to the bundle of acoustic songsters touring the UK, she has already had the chance to record with one of her musical heroes on her debut. Notes From The Treehouse sees Alessi collaborate with producer and Bright Eyes guitarist Mike Mogis, much to her surprise.
“When I signed with EMI they said ‘who would be your dream guy?’ and I said Mike Mogis, but I didn’t know what my chances were. At the time he was on tour with Bright Eyes in London so the timing was more than amazing. I got to meet up with him and I liked him straight away, he’s a warm guy. He managed to find a block of time towards the end of that summer to start recording. I was extremely lucky; in fact I couldn’t believe it!”
After their initial meeting in London, Alessi travelled to Omaha in the summer of 2007 to start recording the album with Mogis. The result is a breathtaking brew of sugary sweet melodies laced with harps and hushed vocals.
“At the time of recording I was just 17,” she explains, “I was a minor so my mum came with me to Omaha. We set up camp there but came back and forth for my dad’s birthday and things like that. The whole process was maybe about half a year.” She adds, “Nebraska is such a great place you should definitely visit.”
As Notes From the Treehouse gently trickles from your speakers you are invited into Alessi’s dream world. Her psychedelic lullabies tell tales of enchanted creatures, freckles and space. However her lyrics are not as twee and innocent as they first appear. Although the majority of her tracks remain untarnished by the outside world, songs such as Over The Hill depict heartache and melancholy, surprising subject matters from someone so young.
“I’m definitely not old enough to have experienced a worldly amount of things so some of my lyrics I completely make up,” she says, “At times though I do base my songs on my own experiences and things that have happened to friends and family.”
A homebody at heart, Alessi’s not your typical teenager. She confesses, “I don’t really go out that much maybe I should! I go out to see bands sometimes but I spend a lot of time with my family. We go out to eat or to the cinema. I like to go for walks I don’t really go out clubbing to be honest.”
Softly spoken, witty and engaging Alessi is eager to chat about her favourite bands, her artwork as well as her friends and family.
“Mainly I listen to guys,” she says, “I do like some women but I mostly listen to men. I like Graham Nash and Neil Young and I like some really early T-Rex. My dad, he likes The Jam, Paul Weller and all these mod bands. Whereas my mum really loves David Bowie. She introduced me to things like Crosby, Stills and Nash.”
After completing her GCSEs Alessi left school to pursue her music career. Her parents granted her permission to continue with her music under the condition that something happened within a year. She explains how her parents’ continued support is the key to her success:
“I did my GCSEs and we agreed that afterwards they would just let me play,” she explains, “They said if nothing comes about you will have to go back and that seemed more than a cool enough deal. I was daunted by not having any kind of routine though because at school you’ve got homework, timetables and revision I just thought
‘argh I don’t know what I’m doing!’ You can go through waves of having a definite plan of the week and other times I’m just pottering around. She says enthusiastically “My parents have been amazing and I know that this is all down to their support”.
Whilst at school Alessi began creating a fanzine entitled The Brain Bulletin which she packed with music and film reviews and illustrations.
“I started writing The Brain Bulletin when I was 14 and I did it for a few years,” she explains, “I used to make up names so if anyone ever picked one up they thought that more people were involved in it,” she giggles. “I started drawing in it and writing about films and books and slowly people started to submit.” She adds, “I now try to do a digital version of the fanzine but it’s not tangible. I prefer to have things that are handmade.”
DIY culture is something which the young folkstrel is extremely passionate about, so much so that this month she launched her own exhibition of line drawings at Riverside Studios in London.
“The exhibition is curated by a friend of mine,” Alessi explains. “She puts on events in a secretive way under the name The Velvet Sneaker. The theme is handmade. They’re all black and white line drawings that have been collected over time. The oldest one in the exhibition is one that I drew for The Brain Bulletin.”
Alessi feels her art and music are connected: “A lot of the drawings that are up in the exhibition came to me whilst I was thinking about songs. I’ve incorporated lyrics into quite a few of them. I do think there’s a definite kind of theme that gels between the two. There’s an owl with me tucked up in the wing, I drew that with my Nana in mind and there’s my interpretation of what the ark looks like from the inside. A lot of the drawings I did whilst on tour and posted them out to people that were joining the mailing list. They are quite special prints, I like the fact that they are just roaming
around in the world.”
Alessi’s Ark has just come back off an extensive UK tour to promote the release of her album. She speaks fondly of her time in Middlesbrough, which was her favourite gig of the tour.
“I’ve played in a few strange places but they’ve always been fun,” she says, “I played in a bookshop in Long Beach, California once which was really cool. It was a really nice place to hang out. This week I’m playing at a bird hide in Stoke Newington as well. This really cool organisation called Hunger Munger are trying to protect and restore the reservoir there by raising money.”
Despite her originality Alessi finds it difficult to brush off comparisons to the likes of Laura Marling. “Our music is pretty different we get pigeon-holed together because we are of a similar age, we don’t live far from each other each and we both play the guitar and sing. She’s a nice girl but she does do something different to me. Everyone loves to say that you’re doing something like someone else”. When asked to give her opinion on the lashings of ladies currently occupying the UK charts, Alessi remains the epitome of all things lovely and keeps schtum. “I don’t think it’s fair to judge! I haven’t gone out of my way to give any of them a listen so I’m going to sit on the fence.”
So far Notes From the Treehouse has met with a glowing reviews. Over the next year Alessi hopes to travel with her music, serenading her mushrooming fanbase with folk fairy stories. “My mum is half French so I would like to play there, perhaps in a nice café. I want to keep on playing and working on different incarnations of the ark”.
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