Alici is a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, who combines her talents to create a rich tapestry that highlights her influences, celebrates her Brazilian roots, and infuses her personality in her debut album, Souvenir . Alici is primarily from Brazil, but she is well-traveled in diverse styles of R&B, Jazz, and Trip-Hop, across state, city, and world sounds. This is also part of what makes Alici’s music addicting to listen to, because her uniqueness makes it easier for her to explore innovative experiments with blending different parts of her personality together. Each of her songs reveal a different facet of her life, and these experiments transform music listening into a fun game of discovery.
Souvenir is 9 songs spanning 10-seconds-shy of 25 minutes and was recorded live in one-take with keys, bass, drums, and Alici on guitar and vocals before adding percussion, saxophone, and ear candy on a second pass. This equally brave and impressive decision that was made during the recording process resulted in a consistently calm, soothing sound which was coherent throughout the album's arc.
As I was becoming more obsessed with Alici’s music, I also felt the need to engage more with her live performances, especially since she was rolling out Souvenir in September. I quickly found myself at three Alici performances in three weeks for three different reasons.
- The initial interest to compare the recording to the live performance.
- To confirm that what I heard at the first show was real and not a fever dream.
- Because after the second show I realized that every Alici performance is unique and special in its setup, setlist, and arrangement.
Whether it is a full band in a Jazz lounge, Alici solo in a music hall, or a saxaphone/guitar duo with Alici singing over it in a small flagship store in SoHo, Alici finds a way to claim the stage as hers, and weave her music into the audience’s heart. Dialing back instruments from her performance only highlights her vocal talent more, and adding more instrumentalists to her band is more cherries on top.
Still, Souvenir remains my favorite Alici concert, proving how her combination of talent, culture, and personality can create a refreshing take on R&B and bossanova. I am beyond excited to continue engaging with Alici’s music because I am confident that her innovative approach combined with her captivating performances is a formula with immense potential to reshape contemporary music.
