Alison Moyet
• Album: ‘the minutes’ (COOKCD585) out 3rd May on Cooking Vinyl
• Full UK headline tour including Irish Tour dates!
“A musical resurrection in the making” The Huffington Post
“An extraordinary, modern-sounding and effortlessly stylish comeback” Pop Justice
On May 3rd Cooking Vinyl are proud to present ‘the minutes’, a new album by world-renowned musical icon Alison Moyet, who has achieved sales of more than 20 million, both as a solo artist and half of influential duo Yazoo. ‘the minutes’ is to be preceded by the single ‘When I Was Your Girl’ on 1st April.
Her first album since 2007, ‘the minutes’ was written with and produced by Guy Sigsworth, known for his work with Frou Frou, Robyn, Björk, Goldie and Madonna. It finds Alison’s voice strong and seductive on a collection of exceptional songs. Experimental, captivating and entirely cohesive, this is beauty with an edge.
Clearly indicating a new artistic lease of life, ‘the minutes’ is arguably Alison’s most creatively-brimming album ever. It has subtle parallels to her synth-pop past, but is also bang up-to-date, taking in elements of high-end pop smashes, R&B, modern club sounds and electronic experimentation.
“I avoided listening to anything during the process of writing and recording this album, choosing instead to be lead by my own melodic voice, the one I now find myself with 30-years-in”, says Alison. “Guy Sigsworth returns me to a programmer’s world and marries it with perfect musicality. I have been waiting for him. We have made an album mindless of industry mores that apply to middle-aged women and have shunned all talk ofaudiences, demographics and advert jazz covers. This has easily been my happiest studio experience.”
Panoramic strings and icy electronics start proceedings on album-opener ‘Horizon Flame’, before the massive-chorus-meets-jerky-robotic-R&B of ‘Changeling’ kicks in.
‘Apple Kisses’ highlights the versatility of Alison’s singing; having defined dancefloor synth-pop in Yazoo, this track sees her voice equally at home soaring over a snarling bassline that wouldn’t sound out of place tearing from the Fabric sound system.
Equally schooled in club culture is the punchy house/bass squelch of ‘Right As Rain’, whilst the brighter in mood ‘Love Reign Supreme’ recalls Chris & Cosey’s ‘October Love Song’.
The darkly-beautiful, emotionally-fraught torch song ‘A Place To Stay’ precedes the positive and uplifting ‘Filligree’, which is indicative of the whole album’s cohesive pendulum swing from darkness to light and back again.
Alison Moyet is a Basildon girl born to a French father and English mother. Having left school at 16, she began her musical journey in punk bands and on the Canvey Island pub rock scene. Her studying piano tuning came to an abrupt halt when ‘Only You’ became a worldwide hit for her and Vince Clarke, the duo otherwise known as Yazoo. Completely by accident, she found herself thrust into the spotlight of the mainstream popworld.
Yazoo went on to reinvent British dance music, merging cool synthesised soundscapes with soul. Two albums and a Brit Award for Best New Band later, aged just 23 she signs a solo deal with Columbia and records the multi-million selling debut ‘Alf’. Released in 1984 the album spawned three UK Top 10 hits and wins her a Brit for BestFemale Artist.
In 1985 Moyet performed at the legendary first Live Aid concert and her next album, 1987’s ‘Raindancing’ gaining her a third Brit. From Wembley Arena a world tour follows.
In 1991 Alison released the highly- acclaimed ‘Hoodoo’, a complex collection of raw rock roots and deep soul music that garnered her a Grammy nomination.
1994 saw the release of‘Essex’ which contained the gorgeous acoustic version of Moyet’s cover of Jules Shears’ ‘Whispering Your Name.’
In 1995 ‘Singles’ entered the UK album chart at No.1, and clearly demonstrated just why Alison Moyet is one of Britain’s finest recording artists. Following another sold out tour of the UK (including three nights at the Royal Albert Hall), the ‘Singles’ album was repackaged with a bonus live CD (‘No Overdubs’) and re-entered the Top 20.
Towards the end of 2001Alison made her stage debut in the West End hit musical ‘Chicago’ playing the role of Matron ‘Mama’ Morton to critical acclaim. Signing to Sanctuary in 2002 ‘Hometime’, her first studio album in eight years was released to loud critical acclaim and quickly topped 100,000 sales, catapulting Alison into the Top 5 Best Selling Female UK Artists and gaining her a nomination for Best Female Vocal at the 2003 BRIT Awards.
Her Top 10 album ‘Voice’ was released to great acclaim in September 2004 and quickly earned gold status in the UK selling over a quarter of a million copies.
In 2005 Alison embarked on a sold out UK tour entitled ‘One Blue Voice’, performing with an eight-piece band including a string quartet. That year she also narrated filmed a special version of the ‘One Blue Voice’ concert at The Hospital in Covent Garden which was released on DVD.
The following year, Alison returned to London’s West End in ‘Smaller’ in which she co-starred with long time friend Dawn French. The play was directed by Kathy Burke and opened in London that April after a national tour.
2007 saw the release of her seventh studio album ‘The Turn’, her first record for John Williams’ W14 label. Written with long term collaborator and producer, Pete Glenister, it included three of the songs they wrote for the play ‘Smaller.’
Alison reformed Yazoo briefly with Vince Clarke in 2008 in order to play live the material they had never previously performed. They toured ‘Reconnected’ for 13 weeks throughout Europe and America the following summer – their first shows together in 25 years. Mute went on to release a live album from the tour in 2010 entitled Reconnected Live.
Alison completed a tour of the UK and Europe as the special guest of Michel Legrand at the beginning of 2009, when Sony also released a career spanning Best Of album to celebrate Alison’s 25 years as a solo artist. In Feb 2010 Alison performed with Wilko Johnson at Koko in Camden for the launch of Julian Temple’s documentary about Dr Feelgood and Canvey Island. Later that year she completed a series of tour dates as the special guest of Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.
Alison is a Prince’s Trust Ambassador and has performed twice at their Rock Gala concerts at the RoyalAlbert Hall in 2010 and 2011. She also wants us to tell you that she is a doctor. *nods*
In 2012 Alison was invited by Nile Rodgers to perform ‘Stop Me’ alongside himself, Johnny Marr and Mark Ronson at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Later in the same year she completed a trio of sold out dates at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s entitled ‘Rare & Obscured’ where she performed a set of songs less visited, focusing on her catalogue from the last decade.
Alison will be touring from September 30th and throughout October. This tour places ‘the minutes’ centre stage and will focus on the significant electronic material in her back catalogue. Tickets will go onsale at 10am on March 8th:
30 Sep Ireland Cork Opera House
01 Oct Northern Ireland Belfast Waterfront Hall
02 Oct Ireland Dublin Olympia Theatre
04 Oct Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
05 Oct Edinburgh Usher Hall
06 Oct Gateshead The Sage
08 Oct Sheffield City Hall
09 Oct Rhyl Pavilion Theatre
10 Oct Coventry Warwick Arts Centre
12 Oct Northampton Derngate Theatre
13 Oct Ipswich Regents Theatre
15 Oct London Royal Festival Hall
16 Oct Cambridge Corn Exchange
17 Oct Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall
19 Oct Bristol Colston Hall
20 Oct Cardiff St. David’s Hall
21 Oct Brighton The Dome
23 Oct York Barbican Theatre
24 Oct Salford The Lowry
25 Oct Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
27 Oct Nottingham Royal Centre
28 Oct Birmingham Symphony Hall
29 Oct Southend Cliffs Pavilion
31 Oct Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre
Tickets available from: www.ticketmaster.ie, www.ticketmaster.co.uk, www.gigsandtours.com and local venue box offices
The album is available to pre-order from Amazon, iTunes and Alison’s website.
www.alisonmoyet.com // www.facebook.com/AlisonMoyet // www.cookingvinyl.com
Speaking to Miriam O’Callaghan Alison said it was a joy to work with her daughter when making the video for her latest single ‘When I was your girl’. When asked about her inspiration for song writing Alison said that it has changed as she has gotten older.
