Belgium/The Netherlands-based singer songwriter Alison Jutta first hit our radar last month thanks to her emotionally-charged dance single Show Me. It’s a track that features on her debut album hello, I don’t know, which just had to give a listen.
By Graeme Smith
Hello, I don’t know is all about finding your way to adulthood, a journey that is never straightforward and always full of ups, downs and deviations. Alison manages to capture it all with her stunning debut, a collection that shares much about her own journey in order to find common ground with her listeners.
Alison started in music at the age of eight, taking classical piano lessons. She soon found that her heart lay in pop, and she studied the genre formally at Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam. Her original music has caught the attention of Belgium’s national radio station Studio Brussel, as well as others across Belgium and The Netherlands.
Though not the most conventional of upbringings, Alison has experienced a lot of the same things as most young people. In hello, I don’t know we hear about her struggles with self-love, being down, and finding a place in the world. There are brighter moments too. The aforementioned Show Me is a twinkling gem while Like I Do is has an infectious groove. Lately is a driving, textured sad banger.
Musically, she enhances all her stories with some beautifully light, dreamy and lo-fi arrangements. Alison is heavily-inspired by the likes of HAIM and Maggie Rogers and that comes through strongly in her compositions. Opening track Better is beautifully rich and memorable. Ceiling and Help are strikingly original. Never Got Lost, featuring Jack Hippo, is a cathartic anthem. And it’s all rounded off by the intimate, affirming For You.
Hello, I don’t know was self-recorded by Alison and her friends, the band Socks;SportsSocks, in their shared studio. Vocal recording and mixing was done by Paulo Rietjens at Frontal Studio, Brussels. The album is out now digitally and on Crystal Clear vinyl and you can give it a listen below.
