Thank Folk For That Live: Alessi's Ark

Event information

Join Thank Folk For That for their next live night at The Castle, Manchester

On April 25th, we are very excited to welcome Alessi's Ark as our headliner!

Travel, adventure and personal revelation mark the new album by singer-songwriter Alessi Laurent-Marke of Alessi's Ark. 'The Still Life' is a work both lucid and heartbreakingly lovely, a sonic landscape that roams a wide range of emotions, with (as the songwriter explains), "Nature and love, as common threads".

"I wanted to create a musical landscape that varied in sound," Laurent-Marke says, "but an overriding feeling of 'stillness' remained throughout the album. I also wanted to step back from playing acoustic guitar and immerse the songs in very different sound settings from previous recordings."

Only a few short years into her career, the London-based Laurent-Marke - who began playing music and launched a fanzine, Brain Bulletin, during her secondary school years in West London - is already prolific: her first, self-released EP, 2007's Bedroom Bound, garnered the then-teenage artist a major label deal and attention around the globe.

A debut album soon followed, with Laurent-Marke heading to Omaha, Nebraska to record with producer Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, The Faint, Rilo Kiley). The resulting 'Notes From The Treehouse' (EMI/Virgin, 2009) was a testament to both her evolving talents and to her affinity with a new wave of American singer/songwriters.

Her most recent release, 2011's 'Time Travel', was praised by the press, with MOJO swooning, "The understated arrangements suggest you're listening to a woman with impeccable taste...", and NME remarking, "the songs have a deftness that defies her years"

Still only 22, Laurent-Marke continues to explore. The last few years have seen tours through England and across the Continent - supporting artists including Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling, Villagers, and Laura Veirs - with the young singer backed by a revolving cast of musical collaborators, her own 'Alessi's Ark.' These adventures fuelled the creative inspiration for what would become 'The Still Life'.

All aboard the Ark!

We're also very pleased to announce that Ralfe Band will be joining as support. Ralfe Band is the work of English songwriter, Oly Ralfe. The debut album 'Swords' was released in UK in 2005 by Skint Records and elsewhere in Europe in 2007 by Talitres Records, with Mojo awarding a 4-star review, calling it "a whiskey-soured folk trip from east to west.. .Ralfe's moon-eyed beauty is simply the work of one vivid imagination". The second album 'Attic Thieves' was released in 2008 by Loose and Talitres Records.

Following this Ralfe Band created the soundtrack for the feature film Bunny and the Bull. The soundtrack album to Bunny and the Bull was released in 2010. The album was well received and scored an 8/10 NME review, "The 22 tracks here recall the deft melancholy of the Amelie soundtrack... The kind of regally drunk spirit last heard on David Dundas' equally fine Withnail & I soundtrack. Score!"

The band have toured across Europe and have performed on main stages at the Glastonbury Festival, Reading and Leeds, CMJ New York, SWSW Austin as well as at festivals in Ireland and Turkey.

The band also appeared in The Mighty Boosh television series in the episode 'The Legend of Old Gregg' where they played musicians in a pub.

And finally, we will be joined by the magnificent Chi And The Twelfth Wall.

www.alessisark.com
www.ralfeband.com
www.soundcloud.com/chi-and-the-twelfth-wall
www.thankfolkforthat.com