ALA.NI Shares New Album “Sunshine Music”
Today, Paris-based singer/songwriter ALA.NI released Sunshine Music, her highly anticipated third album via No Format Records. An open-armed embrace of the bittersweet side of life, the album finds ALA.NI expanding the bounds of her artistry – stitching together a tapestry of influences from calypso, jazz, bossa nova and the great postwar songbook to make powerful statements about politics, narcissism and the warmth of Carribean culture.
Alongside the release, she shared a powerful music video for “TIEF,” which tells a story of generational greed and calls for reparations.
When asked about the inspiration behind “TIEF”, ALA.NI said “This has a kind of ‘Tango Bolero’ feel and was partially inspired by The Mighty Sparrow’s Slave from the 1960s – a song about being taken from Africa. The conversation about reparations is gaining momentum, with countries like Germany starting to return stolen artifacts. But whether it’s the Benin Bronzes, the Elgin Marbles, or the Kohinoor Diamond, there has to be a point where these precious goods are returned to their rightful owners.”
She continues, “Beyond that, there’s the question of generational trauma and the accumulation of one-sided wealth. Those past crimes against humanity have to be compensated if we’re ever to be truly equal.”
Born to Grenadian parents and raised in London, ALA.NI comes from a storied musical background, her great-uncle being Leslie ‘Hutch’ Hutchison, an infamous cabaret icon of the pre-WWII era. Since emerging with her debut You & I in 2016 – a self-produced set of exquisitely restrained torch songs that earned her a performance on Later… with Jools Holland and a Tiny Desk Concert – ALA.NI has built a reputation as a distinctive voice beyond easy classification.
Her 2020 follow-up ACCA layered beatbox and vocal textures into dense, intricate arrangements, drawing contributions from figures like LaKeith Stanfield and Iggy Pop and earning acclaim from Associated Press, NYLON, The FADER and many more. Along the way, she has collaborated and performed with artists as diverse as Mary J. Blige, Blur, Nitin Sawhney, Andrea Bocelli, Chassol and Jon Batiste.
