Alice Di Micele – Reverse The Flow
Having delivered her intriguing and inviting covers album Interpretations Vol 1 last year, Southern Oregon based Americana/ folk/ environmental singer-songwriter Alice Di Micele has returned to all original material with Reverse The Flow.
The album’s title reinforces the theme of many of the songs, that hope and love can turn the tide of the tumultuous times we find ourselves in, or at least navigate our way through the deep, and troubled, waters.
Alice Di Micele is also in good company in these worrying times, joined as she is by her Force of Nature bandmates Rob Kohler (acoustic & electric bass), Andy Casad (acoustic & electric guitar), and Nick Kirby (drums).
A number of guest musicians also play their part in the sonic textures that help shape Reverse The Flow, including Bret Levick (electric guitar, Rhodes, backing vocals), Jenny Conlee-Drizos & Skip Edwards (Hammond B3), Sarah DeVallière (Piano) and Crystal Reeves (Violin & Viola).
Album opener 'I Wanna Love' wouldn’t have been out of place on any of Joni Mitchell’s electric folk albums.
A semi anthemic, celebratory cry to the beauty of women, 'I Wanna Love' is beautifully performed proof that, some eighteen albums on, Alice Di Micele is still creating lyrically and vocally powerful pieces of folk-art.
Equally powerful is 'One Little Word.' A downtempo, autobiographical number, 'One Little Word' lyrically speaks of the homophobia and oppression Alice Di Micele had to suffer in the 1980s when she was shunned by some for falling in love with a woman. It also a carries a universal truth in that love is love, in all its forms.
The lovely, bluesy sway of 'Falling Through the Cracks' belies a darker lyric that points to a failing system in the U.S. where houseless-ness and lack of proper mental health-care is taking its toll ("There’s no salvation in this land where people worship profit… until the circle is mended, we either heal or we fall, through the cracks").
The album’s title reinforces the theme of many of the songs, that hope and love can turn the tide of the tumultuous times we find ourselves in, or at least navigate our way through the deep, and troubled, waters.
Alice Di Micele is also in good company in these worrying times, joined as she is by her Force of Nature bandmates Rob Kohler (acoustic & electric bass), Andy Casad (acoustic & electric guitar), and Nick Kirby (drums).
A number of guest musicians also play their part in the sonic textures that help shape Reverse The Flow, including Bret Levick (electric guitar, Rhodes, backing vocals), Jenny Conlee-Drizos & Skip Edwards (Hammond B3), Sarah DeVallière (Piano) and Crystal Reeves (Violin & Viola).
Album opener 'I Wanna Love' wouldn’t have been out of place on any of Joni Mitchell’s electric folk albums.
A semi anthemic, celebratory cry to the beauty of women, 'I Wanna Love' is beautifully performed proof that, some eighteen albums on, Alice Di Micele is still creating lyrically and vocally powerful pieces of folk-art.
Equally powerful is 'One Little Word.' A downtempo, autobiographical number, 'One Little Word' lyrically speaks of the homophobia and oppression Alice Di Micele had to suffer in the 1980s when she was shunned by some for falling in love with a woman. It also a carries a universal truth in that love is love, in all its forms.
The lovely, bluesy sway of 'Falling Through the Cracks' belies a darker lyric that points to a failing system in the U.S. where houseless-ness and lack of proper mental health-care is taking its toll ("There’s no salvation in this land where people worship profit… until the circle is mended, we either heal or we fall, through the cracks").
'The Mystery' is a spiritual love song to nature and the interconnectedness of all life.
Delicately arranged around acoustic guitar, piano, strings and the cello of Michał Palzewicz, 'The Mystery' is one of the simplest songs on the album, but it's beautifully effective.
'Springtime (Here We Go)' celebrates that very season through a joyful up-tempo that features upright bass, a delightful piano solo and exquisitely delivered, playful lyricism ("Daffodils bloom, hyacinths perfume in medley with the last of sweet daphne’s tune; last week we had snow, oh, it comes and goes, but the iris and the tulips know - let’s go, here we go!).
'Oh Humanity,' as the title so succinctly expresses, is an acoustic folk-ballad cry to the seemingly ever rising divineness and hatred in the world.
The lyrical impetus, however, is more about hope than hatred ("Fighting hate with war will never bring us peace, we must see that we are one; and all the things we gather we eventually release, only love will linger when we’re gone").
'Bonafide' is a blues waltz (with tasteful guitar solo) to those we love and can rely on in current, troubled times ("Neither one of us can just tune out the world and ignore what’s going on, but I’m so grateful for your hand to hold; in the midst of the chaos your love is my calm").
Alice Di Micele’s vocal on this number, from the big, rounded notes to her lower register and resonating, slow vibrato, is worth the admission fee on its own (it’s also one of her best vocal performances to date).
'The Ghost of Alice' is the album’s old-school, storytelling folk ballad moment.
Haunting, fittingly ghostly, and featuring Darol Anger on violin, 'The Ghost of Alice' is a Di Micele folk fairytale tour de force ("There’s a broken down farmhouse on highway 69, ain’t nobody lived there for a long, long, long time; it don’t matter if you pass on a hot summers day, there’s a cold, cold wind gonna blow you away").
The woozy and rhythmic title track is a reminder that no matter the turbulence and tragedies we see, and are living through, we are still here, doing what we can to relieve the stress and stand strong on "the sacred ground" of Mother Earth (the core tenets of Alice Di Micele).
"And lately it feels like it’s all gone to hell, like some evil Lord’s got the world under his spell; but I see kindness in so many small ways, and if we work hard for justice, I believe we will reach it some day").
Can we reverse the flow? With Miss Di Micele leading the way, we’ve certainly got a chance.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Delicately arranged around acoustic guitar, piano, strings and the cello of Michał Palzewicz, 'The Mystery' is one of the simplest songs on the album, but it's beautifully effective.
'Springtime (Here We Go)' celebrates that very season through a joyful up-tempo that features upright bass, a delightful piano solo and exquisitely delivered, playful lyricism ("Daffodils bloom, hyacinths perfume in medley with the last of sweet daphne’s tune; last week we had snow, oh, it comes and goes, but the iris and the tulips know - let’s go, here we go!).
'Oh Humanity,' as the title so succinctly expresses, is an acoustic folk-ballad cry to the seemingly ever rising divineness and hatred in the world.
The lyrical impetus, however, is more about hope than hatred ("Fighting hate with war will never bring us peace, we must see that we are one; and all the things we gather we eventually release, only love will linger when we’re gone").
'Bonafide' is a blues waltz (with tasteful guitar solo) to those we love and can rely on in current, troubled times ("Neither one of us can just tune out the world and ignore what’s going on, but I’m so grateful for your hand to hold; in the midst of the chaos your love is my calm").
Alice Di Micele’s vocal on this number, from the big, rounded notes to her lower register and resonating, slow vibrato, is worth the admission fee on its own (it’s also one of her best vocal performances to date).
'The Ghost of Alice' is the album’s old-school, storytelling folk ballad moment.
Haunting, fittingly ghostly, and featuring Darol Anger on violin, 'The Ghost of Alice' is a Di Micele folk fairytale tour de force ("There’s a broken down farmhouse on highway 69, ain’t nobody lived there for a long, long, long time; it don’t matter if you pass on a hot summers day, there’s a cold, cold wind gonna blow you away").
The woozy and rhythmic title track is a reminder that no matter the turbulence and tragedies we see, and are living through, we are still here, doing what we can to relieve the stress and stand strong on "the sacred ground" of Mother Earth (the core tenets of Alice Di Micele).
"And lately it feels like it’s all gone to hell, like some evil Lord’s got the world under his spell; but I see kindness in so many small ways, and if we work hard for justice, I believe we will reach it some day").
Can we reverse the flow? With Miss Di Micele leading the way, we’ve certainly got a chance.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ