Seducing The Streets Of Berlin
Not many artists have found the gene that inhabits authenticity in the music they mark. South African artist Alice Phoebe Lou doesn’t want to spew out empty tunes for the sake of sound creation, nor does she intend to spill her interest in the process by just being another generic singer songwriter that lies in between plains or belonging to a heartbeat that is not hers. I have become possessed with the beguiling way in which she plays. It no longer suits me to just let the sound surround my audio, it needs to be paired with my sight too. It makes sense that her career has been formulated by the streets in which her audiences can view her performances. Known to passers-by in Berlin as the street musician who pulls crowds in way before she arrives, Lou has a presence that whispers the solidarity of gentleness and powerful ambience, a combination that makes the knots in my stomach tease the butterflies I once had for something I can package as truth. I watch her online. I’m still and my breath is slow and sedated. I pick at my nails because I feel intimidated by her realness. I saw her live when she opened for The Lumineers at Emmerentia. The connection she shares with her herself is what drives her audience to the magnetism of her playing; there is a great beauty that lies within her character. The beauty of her surety, the beauty of her need to live a life through passion and a beauty in the way she speaks to us.
According to a recent article written by Debbie Loots for Mail and Guardian, Lou recorded her first, independent album at Popsicle Studios in Cape Town this year. It was produced by Thor Rixon, Graham Dixon and Matteo Pavesi, and Lou financed the album herself through EP sales on her website and at performances.
So above getting my weekly online dose, I have an album to look forward to. She also has a TEDx feature and a take no shit attitude. Take an hour to watch her online. You won’t be disappointed.
