Alice Phoebe Lou’s music is a diary of her life and journey, the ups, downs and everything in-between. The Cape Town-raised singer whose career kicked off from busking in the streets of Berlin, quickly caught the eyes of record labels after her 2014 TEDx performance. Opting for full creative freedom, Lou remained independent, releasing her 2014 EP ‘Momentum’, followed by acclaimed 2016 debut album ‘Orbit’. Tender, organic and chopped with creative songwriting and ridiculously lush melodies, Alice Phoebe Lou’s latest record ‘Paper Castles’ finds the singer truly at her best across the board.
The Noah Georgeson-produced ‘Paper Castles’ may only be 10 songs but Alice Phoebe Lou wastes no time with this high flying journey singing “It’s OK to feel so small…” on the surreal album opener ‘Little Spark’. A bright jazz offering, the spacious production is airy allowing Lou to stretch out with Elis Regina vocal-like sensibilities. ‘Nostalgia’ is an exercising of classicism, meeting somewhere between Billie Holiday seduction and at times Edith Piaf inflections. Lou’s ability to create atmospheric and dreamscapes brilliant shines with ‘Galaxies’, where her playful vocal acrobatics are coupled with spacey instrumentation, beautiful and hypnotic. Tracks like ‘Fynbos’ ring with emotion, pulling from an early 70s palette of theatrical jazz and experimental pop. ‘Skin Crawl’ addresses issues of boundary crossing and harassment while ‘My Outside’ celebrates the idea of liberation with Lou singing “Didn’t wanna be told what I’m supposed to look like”. ‘Ocean’ appropriately closes the album, a track that in itself, is a saying goodbye to that once loved person with Lou’s poetic lyrics pulling heart strings with a firm grip.
Paper Castles is undoubtedly Alice Phoebe Lou’s most thrilling work yet. Mature, passionate, playful on some occasions, tearful on others, this record is the singer owning the world that she created and presenting it how she envisions. Nothing short of amazing, so far Paper Castles is one of the best albums of the year.