Best known for her fifteen years as half of The Kills, Alison Mosshart’s reputation has been built on her understated yet powerful vocals and aggressive guitar style, also on display fronting Jack White’s The Dead Weather. Now, four years after the last album from The Kills and two years removed from there the band’s last single release, Mosshart is trying her hand as a solo artist with the release of two songs, “Rise” and “It Ain’t Water.” The result will only burnish her cred as a fiercely independent and unique creative force.
While the two songs were not written together (both saw their genesis earlier in the ending decade), they’re bound together by a theme of loss and longing, both personal and human, as well as the understanding of and resignation to our inner selves. Both songs are highlighted by Mosshart’s signature stark arrangement and hauntingly passionate vocal readings, cutting deep into the listener’s soul, revealing the pain and hope we all carry inside us. Mosshart’s songs reveal multiple dimensions and conflict of our emotions, much like this multi-talented artist’s paintings do in the visual realm.
Mosshart’s “Rise” found early airplay on The Current, KGSR, WFPK, KROK, KRCC, KXCI and WHRV, but with a new record from The Kills in the works, as well as the recent release of a book of her art, photography and writing (CAR MA) this would be a good time to be introducing your audience to Alison Mosshart’s wide range of creativity, starting with her music.
Photo by David James Swanson