Music: Alice Russell

A veritable force of nature, Brighton’s queen of funk and soul is back in action after taking some time out with her new baby, with a string of dates here and abroad …

Moving to Brighton in the mid ‘90s to study art and music, Alice Russell initially made her mark as a guest singer with the likes of Quantic Soul Orchestra, and Nostalgia 77 (their cover of The White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army’ has been constantly rinsed in clubs around the world). She then teamed up with co-writer, guitarist and producer Alex Cowan (aka ™ Duke) for her debut studio album My Favourite Letters, released in 2005 on the Brighton-based Tru Thoughts label.

Russell and Cowan continue to collaborate to this day: “We both like so many different types of music, whereas some people are more purist. Our influences run from Sarah Vaughan to Bach, Kate Bush to Arvo Part, and J Dilla to Alice Coltrane. We love everything from dirty, squelchy dubstep to old school soul. We nudge each other in the right directions,” says Alice.

Subsequently, she’s released Pot of Gold, and To Dust, arguably her best album to date, which featured a fantastic performance by Harry Shearer (This Is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons etc) for the promotional video to the ‘Heartbreaker’ single. Constantly collaborating, she released an album with her old friends Quantic (Will Holland) in 2012, and also contributed a vocal to ‘Men Will Do Anything’, a track on the David Byrne and Fatboy Slim album Here Lies Love.

Live, though, is where you can witness the power and skill of her voice, where she can really let go: “It’s a great emotional release … sometimes it makes you feel really high, especially when you’re singing the high notes. If you’re feeling rubbish and everything else feels like it’s going wrong, you feel better if you have a good singsong. I’ve sung my way through panic attacks before – singing through the whole of Stevie Wonder’s Songs In The Key Of Life. They should put singing on the NHS!”

The next gig is in aid of Gig Buddies, a project that enables socially isolated people with learning disabilities to lead active social lives, matching them with a volunteer who enjoys the same kind of music. The bill also includes The Nextmen, Beat Express and Pog.

Concorde 2, Sunday 1 Feb,
7.30pm, £10

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