Exclusive album premiere of ‘Bright and Blue’ by Alice Sandahl, out this Friday via Eerie Organ.

On solo debut ‘Bright and Blue,’ Alice Sandahl (La Luz) excavates with unvarnished vulnerability themes of loss, grief, and hope for the future with keyboard-driven music that combines pop, jazz, and the Great American songbook—Nina Simone meeting Harry Nilsson in a smoky bar anywhere in the world.

Before Sandahl was swept up in Seattle’s rock scene, she formally studied jazz voice, inspired by singers like Simone, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. This is the world she returns to on Bright and Blue, on which you will hear her rich voice foregrounded over arrangements that feature sophisticated jazz rhythms, sweeping strings, and upright bass in addition to Sandahl accompanying herself on piano, Wurlitzer, and Rhodes organ.

Sandahl names Nilsson as an influence, and many of the songs on ‘Bright and Blue’ are reminiscent of the way Nilsson would populate his music with melancholy characters that stood in for deeply personal truths. On the minimal and heartbreaking ‘Oh What A Loss,’ Sandahl explores the death of her mother from her father’s point of view. Elsewhere, Sandahl writes more directly about learning to release herself from grief. “Am I wise enough to follow through/ Wave it off/ Goodbye to Blue,” she sings on “As I Am.”

The title of the record, and a lyrical phrase that is repeated throughout this collection, comes from Sandahl’s idea of the soul: a light that shines eternally no matter the circumstances—the end of a relationship, the death of a parent, the dark night of the soul that we all must traverse at some point in our lives. What shines through ‘Bright and Blue’ is how the bravery of laying down one’s defense can yield rich rewards, even if they come in ways we might not expect.

Alice Sandahl Official Website / Instagram / YouTube