Musically active since the early 1980s, vocalist-multi-instrumentalist-songwriter-visual artist Alice Cohen began releasing solo recordings in 2008, establishing a string of successes that shimmered comfortably amidst the burgeoning hypnogogic pop field of the era. With her latest Archaeology, out October 3 with a vinyl edition in a limited run of 100 copies through her own imprint Crinoline Records, Cohen’s solo output is now eight albums deep. It’s a fine set of art-pop that flies in the face of the standard solo career expectations.
It all began for Alice Cohen in 1979 with “Save the Best for Last,” a song she wrote and recorded as the winner of a radio station contest in Philadelphia. Continuing as a writer, her song “Deetour” was cut by disco singer Karen Young in 1980, and then four years later Cohen transitioned to performer by completing the Philly new wave trio the Vels.
Singing and playing keyboard as Alice DeSoto, her bandmates in the Vels were bassist-guitarist Charles Hanson (formerly of New Orleans punk band The Normals, they of the classic single “Almost Ready”) and keyboardist-drum programmer Chris Larkin. They cut two records for Mercury, Velocity in 1984 and House of Miracles in 1986, the latter as a duo after Larkin’s departure.
The Vels were very much the definition of bubbling under, sharing producers with Tom Tom Club (Steven Stanley) and Culture Club (Steve Levine), landing in MTV rotation with their minor charting single “Look My Way” from their debut and touring as openers for The Psychedelic Furs in support of their second album.
After the Vels ran their course, it was Die Monster Die in the early 1990s for Cohen (DeSoto no longer), a heavier grunge-era outfit based in Athens, GA that landed Michael Stipe as producer for their first single. Subsequently, they released two albums, Chrome Molly in 1992 and Withdrawal Method in 1994.
Upon Die Monster Die’s demise, Cohen sing a song in Allison Anders’ 1996 film Grace of My Heart and collaborated with a handful of bands, but things were relatively quiet for her artistically until emerging as a solo musician and visual artist at approximately the same time in the late 2000s. This was not an unusual path for Cohen to take, though her general hypnogogic pop direction was unexpected and reinforced a chameleonic career sensibility.
But Cohen’s music has evolved across her eight-album stretch with an easily graspable sense of purpose. Archaeology’s opener, the instrumental “Mcgolrick Sunrise,” hits like another Alice, namely Coltrane, but gone hypnogogic, and then “Highways of LA” ushers in vocals with a swagger betwixt Kate Bush and Laurie Anderson at her most pop-friendly. This is of course a template that Cohen makes her own by songs end, in part by blending in aspects of pop-prog and late ’70s piano-driven East Coast long hair-and-blazer soft-pop.
One might get the sense that Donald Fagen could stumble onto the song and not be unimpressed. But importantly, Cohen isn’t leaning into any typical retro thing. “Cappuccino on Astroturf” saunters into singer-songwriter territory but with intermingled straight pop and art-pop aspects, an approach that extends to the title track.
Between them is “Hyacinth’s Dream,” another near-instrumental (it does have wordless vocals) where the hypnogogic qualities aren’t too far afield of something Stereolab or Broadcast might’ve cooked up while under the influence of Coltrane and Manhattan Transfer.
“Curtain Call” is the boldest and most gorgeous of Archaeology’s instrumentals, and “The Ice Queen” delivers one more solid vocal number before “Mcgolrick Sunrise” comes back for a brief closing reprise. If lacking in any standout tracks, Cohen’s newest is seamlessly constructed and consistently enjoyable for an altogether rewarding and distinctive experience.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
