Tuesday Tunes: Almost Forgiven

Eleven years ago I sat among a group of people in a church hall and played a bit of guitar. There was a friend there who, with a bit of encouragement, did some fine singing. Last week, after a long time gigging and winning some financial backing, that friend released her first album.

I tend to experience slight anxiety when someone I know releases a recording. It could be a bit awkward if I don’t actually enjoy listening to the music. It gets bought as a matter of course, but not necessarily listened to much. I’m glad to say that I have been enjoying listening to Coming Around by Elle Stevenson.

For a first long-player it’s a strong collection of tracks in the acoustic-y, piano-y, female singer-songwriter-y vein. (Hmm. Does that sell it terribly well?) The song that has really caught my ear is “Almost Forgiven”, with its disarmingly jaunty piano line. (I suppose I might regret ‘jaunty’, too. I’m no good at this game.) If you like it, you should like the rest of the album. Behind the smooth presentation, some of the lyrics are pretty raw. It’s an effective combination.

No streaming options for this one, again. This is what happens when I pick songs from less-prominent local artists. You can get a short preview — or buy it! — on Amazon’s MP3 store. There are also a few tracks for listening on Elle’s Last.fm page.