Alessi's Ark
Encyclopedia
Alessi's Ark is the musical project of Alessi Laurent-Marke (born June 30, 1990), a singer-songwriter from Hammersmith
in West London.
, Snuff Box
and Shooting Stars
and is also the managing director of TV production company Channel X
.
She first became interested in music when her mother gave her a copy of Graham Nash
's 1971 album Songs for Beginners
. She took up the drums at the age of 11 when her secondary school required students to take up an instrument, her choice inspired by seeing drummer Meg White
perform with the White Stripes at a concert at Alexandra Palace
. Her drum teacher played locally in different bands and through this she began going to see him and various bands live with her dad, sometimes going to as many as four shows a week. This led to her starting her own fanzine called Brain Bulletin (which now continues in the form of a blog) in which she wrote about her favourite bands, books and films. Inspired by a family friend in New York, who wrote a fanzine called The Curse, she distributed it at concerts, through a local record shop and at a launderette on Shepherd's Bush Road.
As part of the coursework for her music GCSE
she had to compose the music and lyrics for a song. Through the basic chords she had learnt fooling around on her sister's guitar and "the combination of the poetry and the stories that I had been writing for my fanzine" she composed the song Glendora (which eventually ended up on her debut album), which her music teacher encouraged her to sing at the school assembly. Discovering a new passion for writing and performing, she decided to leave school to pursue music at age 16. Although supported by her parents, she promised them that she would return to school after one year if nothing came of it. During this time she quickly gained a following with her demos posted on her MySpace and self-released an EP called Bedroom Bound that she sold through her page (on her independent label Zooey). To avoid confusion with the music act the Alessi Brothers
, her mother suggested calling herself Alessi's Ark: "I liked the idea of a boat, where everybody is welcome, even friends that are geographically far away – we are together.” Booking as many shows as she could and playing "anywhere", representatives from record labels Heavenly Records
and EMI
soon saw her performing and offered her a deal. On the eve of her 17th birthday she signed to Virgin Records
, a division of EMI.
Asked who her dream producer would be for her major label debut, Laurent-Marke said Mike Mogis
, producer of Rilo Kiley
and member of Bright Eyes. She met up with him in London after a Bright Eyes show at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in early 2008: "I gave him some fanzines and some demos and I liked him straight away. I mean, I was very nervous but he’s a very special man and very like minded so I felt quite at ease." Mogis agreed to work with her that September and she travelled to Nebraska to record the album at Mogis' and Conor Oberst
's studio in Omaha.
The resulting album, Notes From The Treehouse
, was released in May 2009, featuring full band versions of some of the songs from her Bedroom Bound EP, as well as newer compositions such as The Dog and Hummingbird. The album also featured many musicians that inspired her to begin making music including Jake Bellows of Neva Dinova
and Nate Walcott
from Bright Eyes.
Following the release of the album, Alessi's Ark continued to play live around the UK and also played support to a diverse range of artists such as Laura Marling
, Mariee Sioux
, Emilíana Torrini
and Cerys Matthews
, as well as playing the Bandstand stage at Neil Young
's Hyde Park show in London in June. Riverside Studios
in Hammersmith also played host to an exhibition of her drawings inspired by her songs, called Handmade, which ran from August 20 to September 27, 2009.
Alessi is a supporter of the Anthony Nolan Trust and played a charity show at the Union Chapel on 28 January 2010 with Treetop Flyers and Draw Me Stories.
In February 2010 Alessi's Ark left Virgin and signed with independent label Bella Union
. Her first release on Bella Union was an EP called Soul Proprietor
which was released on April 5. On April 25, 2011 she released her second album Time Travel
. which was well-received by critics and fans alike.
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
in West London.
Career
Named after the Italian design company, Alessi Laurent-Marke grew up in Hammersmith, London where her father, Alan Marke, is a television producer who has worked on TV shows such as Modern TossModern Toss (TV series)
Modern Toss is a partly animated British comedy programme based on characters from Modern Toss, a profanity-ridden series of cartoon booklets...
, Snuff Box
Snuff Box
Snuff Box is a BBC Three British dark comedy starring and written by Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher with additional material by Nick Gargano. It first aired on Monday 27 February 2006....
and Shooting Stars
Shooting Stars
Shooting Stars is a British television comedy panel game broadcast on BBC Two as a pilot in 1993, then as 3 full series from 1995 to 1997, then on BBC Choice from January to December 2002 with 2 series before returning to BBC Two for another 3 series from 2008 until its axing in 2011...
and is also the managing director of TV production company Channel X
Channel X
Channel X Productions is a UK comedy and entertainment company with a 22 year history of producing programmes for all of the major broadcasters. The company specialises in scripted broken and narrative comedy, comedy-entertainment formats and game shows....
.
She first became interested in music when her mother gave her a copy of Graham Nash
Graham Nash
Graham William Nash, OBE is an English singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer...
's 1971 album Songs for Beginners
Songs for Beginners
Songs for Beginners is Graham Nash's first solo album, released in May 1971, and one of four high-profile albums released by each partner of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their chart-topping Déjà Vu album of 1970...
. She took up the drums at the age of 11 when her secondary school required students to take up an instrument, her choice inspired by seeing drummer Meg White
Meg White
Megan Martha "Meg" White is an American drummer best known for her work in the Detroit rock duo The White Stripes.-Early life:...
perform with the White Stripes at a concert at Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace is a building in North London, England. It stands in Alexandra Park, in an area between Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green...
. Her drum teacher played locally in different bands and through this she began going to see him and various bands live with her dad, sometimes going to as many as four shows a week. This led to her starting her own fanzine called Brain Bulletin (which now continues in the form of a blog) in which she wrote about her favourite bands, books and films. Inspired by a family friend in New York, who wrote a fanzine called The Curse, she distributed it at concerts, through a local record shop and at a launderette on Shepherd's Bush Road.
As part of the coursework for her music GCSE
General Certificate of Secondary Education
The General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 and Level 1 in Key Skills...
she had to compose the music and lyrics for a song. Through the basic chords she had learnt fooling around on her sister's guitar and "the combination of the poetry and the stories that I had been writing for my fanzine" she composed the song Glendora (which eventually ended up on her debut album), which her music teacher encouraged her to sing at the school assembly. Discovering a new passion for writing and performing, she decided to leave school to pursue music at age 16. Although supported by her parents, she promised them that she would return to school after one year if nothing came of it. During this time she quickly gained a following with her demos posted on her MySpace and self-released an EP called Bedroom Bound that she sold through her page (on her independent label Zooey). To avoid confusion with the music act the Alessi Brothers
Alessi Brothers
The Alessi Brothers are an American pop rock singer-songwriter duo, best known for their 1984 hit "Savin' the Day" and also their 1977 hit "Oh Lori". The duo are identical twin brothers, Bill Alessi and Bob Alessi .-Career:In 1977, they climbed to #8 in the UK Singles Chart with "Oh Lori", and in...
, her mother suggested calling herself Alessi's Ark: "I liked the idea of a boat, where everybody is welcome, even friends that are geographically far away – we are together.” Booking as many shows as she could and playing "anywhere", representatives from record labels Heavenly Records
Heavenly Records
Heavenly Records, aka Heavenly Recordings, is a London-based record label, distributed by EMI. Founded by Jeff Barrett, a former press officer for Creation Records and many successful indie bands of the time including Happy Mondays, Heavenly Recordings' first releases were 7" and 12" singles for...
and EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
soon saw her performing and offered her a deal. On the eve of her 17th birthday she signed to Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
, a division of EMI.
Asked who her dream producer would be for her major label debut, Laurent-Marke said Mike Mogis
Mike Mogis
Mike Mogis is a Nebraskan producer/engineer and multi-instrumentalist who, along with his brother A.J. Mogis, founded Presto! Recording Studios ....
, producer of Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley was an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles. Formed in 1998, the band consisted of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Jason Boesel....
and member of Bright Eyes. She met up with him in London after a Bright Eyes show at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in early 2008: "I gave him some fanzines and some demos and I liked him straight away. I mean, I was very nervous but he’s a very special man and very like minded so I felt quite at ease." Mogis agreed to work with her that September and she travelled to Nebraska to record the album at Mogis' and Conor Oberst
Conor Oberst
Conor Mullen Oberst is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos, Norman Bailer , Commander Venus, Park Ave., Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, and Monsters of Folk.-Musical career:Oberst began...
's studio in Omaha.
The resulting album, Notes From The Treehouse
Notes from the Treehouse
Notes from the Treehouse is the debut studio album by the British singer-songwriter Alessi Laurent-Marke, otherwise known as Alessi's Ark, released in 2009...
, was released in May 2009, featuring full band versions of some of the songs from her Bedroom Bound EP, as well as newer compositions such as The Dog and Hummingbird. The album also featured many musicians that inspired her to begin making music including Jake Bellows of Neva Dinova
Neva Dinova
Neva Dinova is an indie band from Omaha, Nebraska. Neva Dinova is named after the grandmother of lead singer Jake Bellows. They have been on crank! a record company , and have recorded a split-release with Bright Eyes entitled "One Jug Of Wine, Two Vessels" that was also released on crank! a...
and Nate Walcott
Nate Walcott
Nate Walcott is a trumpet, flugelhorn and keyboard player who has appeared on several of Saddle Creek Records artists' albums. He is one of three permanent members of Bright Eyes, along with Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, and has toured with Bright Eyes....
from Bright Eyes.
Following the release of the album, Alessi's Ark continued to play live around the UK and also played support to a diverse range of artists such as Laura Marling
Laura Marling
Laura Beatrice Marling is an English folk musician from Eversley, Hampshire.Initially prominent within the London folk scene, she has also toured with a number of well-known indie artists in the UK. Her debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim and her second album I Speak Because I Can were nominated for...
, Mariee Sioux
Mariee Sioux
Mariee Sioux is an American folk singer-songwriter. Her father Gary Sobonya is a mandolin player of Polish and Hungarian descent, and her mother Felicia is of Spanish, Paiute, and Indigenous Mexican descent.-Biography:...
, Emilíana Torrini
Emilíana Torrini
Emilíana Torrini Davíðsdóttir is an Icelandic singer, best known for her 2009 single Jungle Drum, 1999 album Love in the Time of Science and for performing "Gollum's Song" for Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.-Early life:Torrini grew up in Kópavogur, where, at the age of...
and Cerys Matthews
Cerys Matthews
Cerys Elizabeth Matthews is a Welsh singer and songwriter. She is known as the lead singer of the Welsh rock band Catatonia, her more recent bilingual solo career, and for a 1998 Christmas duet with Tom Jones.-Biography:...
, as well as playing the Bandstand stage at Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
's Hyde Park show in London in June. Riverside Studios
Riverside Studios
Riverside Studios is a production studio, theatre and independent cinema on the banks of the River Thames in Hammersmith, London, England. It plays host to contemporary and international dramatic and dance performance, film, visual art exhibitions and television production.-History:In 1933, the...
in Hammersmith also played host to an exhibition of her drawings inspired by her songs, called Handmade, which ran from August 20 to September 27, 2009.
Alessi is a supporter of the Anthony Nolan Trust and played a charity show at the Union Chapel on 28 January 2010 with Treetop Flyers and Draw Me Stories.
In February 2010 Alessi's Ark left Virgin and signed with independent label Bella Union
Bella Union
Bella Union is an independent record label that was started up by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie in 1997.After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twins decided to take a step towards independence and started up the Bella Union record label, through which they...
. Her first release on Bella Union was an EP called Soul Proprietor
Soul Proprietor
Soul Proprietor is an EP by British singer-songwriter Alessi Laurent-Marke. It is her first on new record label Bella Union and marks her move from major label Virgin to an independent. It coincides with her most high profile tour as special guest to acclaimed British folk artist Laura Marling at...
which was released on April 5. On April 25, 2011 she released her second album Time Travel
Time Travel (Alessi's Ark)
Time Travel is the second album by British singer-songwriter Alessi Laurent-Marke and her first album for independent label Bella Union.-Track listing:All songs by Alessi Laurent-Marke unless otherwise noted.#"Kind Of Man" - 1:58#"Wire" - 2:19...
. which was well-received by critics and fans alike.
Discography
- Bedroom Bound EP (2007)
- The Horse EPThe Horse EPThe Horse is an EP by British singer-songwriter Alessi's Ark. It was her first release for Virgin and featured re-recorded versions of two songs from her debut release, the Bedroom Bound EP, "The Horse" and "Let's Race" and two new tracks, "Neighbour's Birds" and "Patchwork Of Dreams".Jake Bellows...
(2008) - Friend Ships (split EP with Thunder Power)Friend Ships EPFriend Ships is a split EP by British singer-songwriter Alessi's Ark and Omaha, Nebraska power pop band Thunder Power. The EP came about when both artists shared a bill at a concert in Omaha in 2008...
(2009) - "Over The Hill" (single) (2009)
- Notes from the TreehouseNotes from the TreehouseNotes from the Treehouse is the debut studio album by the British singer-songwriter Alessi Laurent-Marke, otherwise known as Alessi's Ark, released in 2009...
(2009) - Live SessionLive Session (Alessi's Ark)Live Session is a digital EP by British singer-songwriter Alessi's Ark. It features acoustic versions of four tracks from her debut album Notes From The Treehouse plus a cover of the Neva Dinova song "Love From Below".-Track listing:...
(2009) - Soul ProprietorSoul ProprietorSoul Proprietor is an EP by British singer-songwriter Alessi Laurent-Marke. It is her first on new record label Bella Union and marks her move from major label Virgin to an independent. It coincides with her most high profile tour as special guest to acclaimed British folk artist Laura Marling at...
(2010) - Time TravelTime Travel (Alessi's Ark)Time Travel is the second album by British singer-songwriter Alessi Laurent-Marke and her first album for independent label Bella Union.-Track listing:All songs by Alessi Laurent-Marke unless otherwise noted.#"Kind Of Man" - 1:58#"Wire" - 2:19...
(2011)