Alessi's Ark

Alessi’s Ark sprang from the imagination of British vocalist Alessi Laurent-Marke, whose lilting, folk-tinged material carried her out of MySpace’s early inner circle and onto the Virgin Records roster. She launched her songwriting ambitions at sixteen after assuring her parents she would resume her studies should nothing materialize within twelve months. The label nevertheless inked her at once, sending her straight to Nebraska where Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott—two-thirds of Bright Eyes—helped sharpen her craft. Those two musicians supplied the accompaniment for her debut EP, The Horse, whose spare fairy-tale ballads received occasional bursts of orchestral pop. Early 2009 brought the full-length follow-up, Notes from the Treehouse.

After enjoying modest success and a loyal audience with her first release, Laurent-Marke stepped away from Virgin’s major-label environment and aligned herself with Bella Union. Her inaugural project for the imprint, the Soul Proprietor EP, appeared in 2010. The following year saw the arrival of her first proper album on the independent label, Time Travel, which further refined her gift for narrative. She next headed to the United States to record her third album, enlisting Conor Oberst associate Andy LeMaster—known for his work with Azure Ray and Drive-By Truckers—at his Atlanta, Georgia studio. The resulting record, The Still Life, surfaced in 2013.

Four years afterward Laurent-Marke returned with producer Jag Jago of the Maccabees, shifting toward a brighter, synth-driven pop sound on her fourth album, Love Is the Currency, which reached listeners in October 2017.