Independent (label)
28 July 2023 (released)
28 July 2023
Alice Armstrong has been developing her presence through a lot of work with other musicians – notably with Elles Bailey, Marcus Praestgaard, the Cinelli Brothers & Catfish, headline sets with Matt Long (of Catfish) and growing with every show.
She doesn’t stick to any one genre, rather she seems capable of doing everything.
She has an outrageous range to her voice, I’ve lost count of the octave range, but she also has the ability to sing sweet and sultry, Bluesy and brash and just about anything in between.
This single should wake a lot of people up to her immense talent.
Alice originally wrote the track with talented young guitarist Marcus Praestgaard (Tom Waters, Dana Gillespie) whilst in Germany during a European tour. Since then Matt Long (Catfish) has contributed to the track’s instrumentation.
Basically, it’s a dirty and funky Blues with some stunning slide guitar and a guest solo from Marco Cinelli with some tasty rhythm from Matt Long, powerful Hammond and electric piano from Stevie Watts in the back. Josh Rigal (Krissy Matthews, Dom Martin) on bass and Kev Hickman (Catfish, Dom Martin) on drums lay down the heartbeat.
And then you get Alice Armstrong and suddenly a good Blues workout becomes a fantastic Blues number with hints of Ella, Aretha, Janis, Dusty and Tina.
Alice’s vocal calisthenics are just incredible. She manages to sound dirty and sassy while, after the maelstrom has died down, her pure soul voice comes in and she just croons with a slightly (and sexy) nasality. She is, potentially, one of the great voices of our time.
In tandem with the release of ‘Upbeat Baby’, Alice is announcing the long-awaited release of her debut six-track EP, ‘Love, Sex & Death’, to be released September 1st, 2023.
