Alison Cotton - Portrait You Painted of Me (LP)

Facts Vinyl LP pressing. Here we have the third solo LP by London's Alison Cotton, following on previous successes, All Quiet at the Ancient Theatre and Only Darkness Now. And as with each of Cotton's projects it is a stylistic advance as well as another example of her dark signature sound. Alison's work with bands is well documented by recordings with Saloon, 18th Day of May, Trimdon Grange Explosion, and her current, ecstatic folk/psych duo, The Left Outsides. But her solo recordings always seem a bit more experimental in terms of song structure and musical texture, as the six tracks on The Portrait You Painted of Me clearly demonstrate. The touchstones of her sound are viola, harmonium and voice, but these are merged together in all sorts of different ways, creating a rich and thoroughly artastic suite of songs.