Tuesday, November 12, 2024

2024 Music So Far: Featuring Sasha Alex Sloan

Woodland by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings



Sometimes the Morning is Different by Family Stereo



Smoke & Fiction by X



What Happened to the Beach? by Declan McKenna



Me Again by Sasha Alex Sloan


I discovered Sasha Alex Sloan back in 2022 along with Alec Benjamin and introduced both artists to my daughter.  Back in the summer she saw where Alec Benjamin and Sasha Alex Sloan were performing back to back in Seattle in October and wanted to buy tickets with her money.  So this last month she and I flew to Seattle and went to back to back concerts on a Saturday and Sunday night.  

Since this is a review of this Sasha Alex Sloan album I'll just say she was fantastic live.  It was a small venue and instead of a warm up act they had karaoke, which was a lot of fun.  With that said what about this album.  

It is a pretty dark album.  Not angry dark but dark in the sense that she is obviously dealing with some tough issues in her life.  She managed to write an album around all of these emotions.  What drew me to her in 2022 are on full display on this album.  She is a very good singer, but an exceptional songwriter.  On I Blame the World there was a sense of humor along with her darker moments, but here the humor is really gone.  It's 13 songs, but only 39 minutes long so falls right into the sweet spot for me on album length and there isn't any wasted space.  

If you are feeling the need to be introspective then this would be a good album to put on.  Like I said it's dark but not in a negative way.  We have a song like "Highlights" on here, the video I linked above.  That song deals with a parent who is not around except when things are good.  Then there is "Kids" a song about a parent who was always there and now it's the child's turn to be there for the parent.  We have relationships where things are good, where things are falling apart.  There is a lot happening here and it's all very thoughtful and well put together. 

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