ALMA ELSTE VIRTUALISM

It's always nice when someone comes back to you after you've written something nice about them. So I was really happy when Alma Elste kindly sent us over her brand new song, 'Virtualism'. A couple of months ago I'd written about a song of hers called 'Julian', an bass-assaulted drawling acoustic song - very pretty indeed. The strange thing was that barely no one had listened to the song, despite it being something that the world-at-large would have gladly enjoyed. I don't really like to make comparisons, but at a time when Lana Del Rey is like, well popular, the heartache and lone-lovers vibe of Parisienne Alma Elste is bound to appeal.

'Virtualism' however is not an acoustic number: it's electro. From the start it brims with wide, warm electro - it's a comforting sound, something that's familiar on the ears, so easy to fall back into like a very well-designed armchair. Thudding kicks and muffled snares hide behind this buzzing wall of noise, later joined by circuit-board arpeggios and whooping soft synth solos.

The most entrancing thing about this song, however, is Alma Elste's voice itself. It is husky and laid-back, a caramel croon that's charming in the slight vibrato at the end of each line and beautiful in the effortless almost whispered glide between notes. Could just listen to her sing all day without the music, to be honest. A close second to this are her endearingly mundane yet cryptic lyrics - this is a lovesong, but one that speaks in stark poetry instead of sloppy balladry:

I'm in your car
We run red lights
I don't give a damn about here
drinkin forties, playin GTA
I stole some baseball cards
the end's behind
give up timeline
we can always sleep tomorrow
We'll last until sunrise
We'll make it
I like your Corvette
I could almost see myself with you

Her references are indeed images of "virtualism" - the world of Grand Theft Auto spilling over into reality with the petty theft of baseball cards, the traffic offences, making you wonder what else they did together. But of course the highest sense of "virtualism" in the song is the almost tragic last line, "I could almost see myself with you" - even the subject of the song, whoever it may be, is not a true reality yet. And it's quite nice that these are touched with that synthpop vibe (co-created by Willy Duft) because it gives a dreamy appeal, something not real, a little bit videogame if you get me. Escapism. A summer romance that never was nor will be.

Anyway, that was that. She's got a lovely voice and she's working on releasing an EP at the start of 2014. What's not to like?

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ALMA ELSTE JULIAN

Simplicity is sometimes best. It is best when it works well. And do you know where it works well exactly? In some songs, yes - but also and particularly in this specific song called 'Julian' by the as-yet-unsigned Alma Elste.

It's a really beautiful song by a girl from Paris in her early twenties - but it doesn't seem to matter about age because her sound is so refined and mature that age becomes a really kind of pointless thing. In fact, I'm sorry for even mentioning it. But in all seriousness, there is a tragic frankness in her voice, lyrics and even the music itself that lends a unique sadness to the ambient chill of the song. That said, the lyrics are quite interesting in their simplistic yet cryptic matter-of-factness:

the house
is empty
the chess game
is underneath the bed
i fell
you ordered me to make mistakes

Put these kinds of words to any kind of music and it will create instant pathos, almost guaranteed. The meaning of the lyrics on a specific level may be lost on us, but the words certainly evoke a kind of lonely helplessness that's for sure. So when the music is just as heartfelt as the lyrics, it's quite a combination indeed. Listen for yourself.

It begins rather unexpectedly with a huge long low rumbling sub-bass note that puts you on edge before you even hear the haunting song itself. And then the guitar. That guitar is really something, I think. The chords in the 'chorus' parts (as there is no real chorus) are surprising, and jump out at you, jarring and off-key and perfectly fitting therefore with the "I fell..." lyric, turned to wordless "oooo"s at the end, illustrating with music whatever unsavoury or unpleasant situation inspired this song. One can make guesses from the title, 'Julian', I suppose.

Yet it's not actually that sad of a song. Ironically, I do think that is the reason why it sounds so heartbreaking - it's just honest, that's all: whatever's being felt, or whatever was felt, was made into a song. Simple as that. But for more music from Alma, you can wait till September for a new EP, or you can check her bandcamp, where you can find her interesting blend of instrumental, incidental and plaintive chill in the form of her earlier Savour Kindness EP that she put out last July. Definitely looking forward to hearing more though.

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