Alessi Laurent-Marke’s third album as Alessi’s Ark, The Still Life, is representative of both her prodigious promise and youthful follies.The Still Life comfortably fits 13 songs in just over 30 minutes. Laurent-Marke pinpoints musical ideas and wastes no time. Four songs clock in under 2 minutes, something more common in punk than in the modern folk she produces.
The cute “Money” makes its point in the first verse with money bag percussion and quickly builds to a group-sung chorus before fading out. “The Good Song” is gorgeous and would be enjoyable at five times its length, but by making it fleeting there’s more urgency to savor the song.
