Eleventh Trip

January 18, 2012 in front by admin

Alpha release their much anticipated  Eleventh album  aptly named  Eleventh Trip. The album has been a work in progress since 2007 mostly due to all the band members  unable to commit full time  to music as everything that is Alpha is self funded. The recordings have taken place in many locations from the Mendip Hills in South West England, one day recording vocals in Bristol and finally  in the bedroom of  founder member Corin Dingley in the Midi Pyrenees, France.

It was a very Brian Wilson moment for Corin during the summer of 2011. He was able to dedicate three months of his to life  mixing and producing  the album all in the confides of his bedroom studio and primarily in his bed.  A very different recording experience compared to the lavish surroundings of  Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios that Alpha used to record Come From Heaven, their much acclaimed debut album back in 1997. The new album draws,  feels and sounds so much like Come From Heaven, but not totally like it.  The drama is there, the elegance, the fragility, the mood, and now added to all that there’s a gritty edge in there, a forcefulness that   comes from  confidence and experience of what Alpha are. Wendy Stubbs,  long time collaborator with Alpha again lends her beautiful voice to the album alongside new vocalists Hannah Collins and Duncan Attwood. Corin first met Hannah when they were both in the band The Heavy , who’s debut album Great Vengeance and Furious Fire Corin co produced and Hannah provided  vocals for. Duncan was a fan Alpha  and asked Corin to produce Scars of The Midwest the debut album of Duncan’s music project Blueneck and they also went to the same pub in Priddy, England where a great friendship began over pints of Black Rat and Mendip magic  notorious rough ciders the colour of seville oranges that only the locals can handle.

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