“White as Diamonds”
from the album To Be Still
2009
iTunes
Alela Diane is a wanderer. Not just in the idealized sense — that she’s a mythic folkie who prefers the nomadic life, walking from town to town with just her guitar, singing songs for bread and shelter from the storm — but in how, well, unsettled she is. “White as Diamonds,“ the first peak from her 2009 sophomore album (and first for UK behemoth Rough Trade Records) To Be Still, shows a naked, stark vulnerability that most songwriters would shy away from. Gosh, is it beautiful.
Alela, a native of Nevada City, recorded large chunks of the disc at Type Foundry studio in Portland. “White as Diamonds” was originally premiered back in May ’07 on her still-stunning Daytrotter session, but on this album version the instrumental palette is expanded to include violin and a gently crashing rhythm section. Thankfully, Alela’s rustic-folk songs aren’t obscured by the arrangement; instead, the song’s gentle backing only makes her rich, wise-beyond-her-years voice shine even brighter. And it’s her voice that drives the song, that breaks your heart, that’s forces you to hit repeat all day. “I was sifting through the piles/ in my hand, a tangled thread/ each patient tug upon the sorrow/ is a glimpse of what has been,” she sings. It’s OK, Alela — we’ve all been there.