A Fine Frenzy brings soulful songs to Birchmere
By: Nancy Dunham
Special to The Examiner
October 30, 2009
If you goYou have to love Alison Sudol, known throughout the land as A Fine Frenzy.A Fine Frenzy with Among the Oak & Ash, Landon Pigg
Where: The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31
Info: $25; ticketmaster.com
Not only is the 24-year-old singer/songwriter a musical wunderkind -- her new sophomore release "Bomb in a Birdcage" is hailed as the wittiest, most sophisticated music since, well, her 2007 debut "One Cell in the Sea" -- but she's a trooper, too, hiding a nasty head cold from audiences at her mostly sold-out shows and even joking about it.
"Something happens in the shows, where I'm tapping into some things I don't know I have," she said. "They are fun and we're definitely having a great time but some really crazy things are happening. Our tour bus is now the plague bus, with all of us reinfecting each other. ... Maybe it's the Drooping Frenzy now."
Despite Sudol's perception, reviews tell quite a different story. Critics, including those at the Birmingham (Ala.) News, hail the vibrancy, energy and "good cheer" of Sudol and her band mates during the concerts.
Even without a head cold, though, the route from obscurity to acclaimed artist who has major music outlets clamoring for information and parsing every note of music isn't easy. Combine that with a tendency to withdraw and you see why Sudol considered chucking her music biz career after her breakthrough.
"It's scary to release any record because essentially you are putting yourself in a very vulnerable position," she said. "I just was burnt out [after my first tour and the ensuing publicity]. It was physically quite hard, and it's strange when you've always been kind of a quiet person, not socially comfortable, and you have to go into situations where you constantly need to socialize and you're always in the public eye. I came home and I was a little lost."
Writing "Bomb in a Birdcage" is what centered Sudol and helped her get her musical groove back. The songs in this album showcase a more daring Sudol as she breaks out of her comfort zone and uses bits of jazz, country and other genres to spice up the tunes as she drives her points home.
"Writing this helped me rediscover why I love music and why I do this and where I belong and what matters to me," she said. "That's really how I created this. ... It's emotional and true and contains everything I can possibly give. It may not be perfect, but it is definitely honest."
