Alice Cohen is a force. For over 40 years she’s been writing songs with a seething edge, carving a surprising path while crafting a singular, towering vision. She has an innate ability at unearthing the effect secrets and suppressed memories have on us, always digging and never satisfied with messages on the surface. Cohen wrote Moonrising, her stunning seventh solo album while dealing with solitude in new ways having just said goodbye to her father at the end of 2019. “He was the last member of my family. It was a heavy thing,” she laments. “I’m the sole survivor.”
These themes of loss, isolation, and survival reverberate through Moonrising and are integral to the lead single, “Wild Wolf.” Midnight, candlelit rituals bleed into a leather-clad Cohen waltzing through an idyllic forest in the Alice Millar & Gabrielle Muller production. Cohen seamlessly depicts countless characters, the varying facets of our own identities bleeding into one over scorching guitar leads and deadpan hooks. “‘Wild Wolf’ is an ode to the wild, feral parts of ourselves that lurk beneath the surface of our psyches,” Cohen explains before asking, “Can we find fulfillment through our own internal wildness, by integrating these various aspects of ourselves into an alchemical marriage of the self?”
“Wild Wolf” is entrancing. Cohen’s guitar-driven composition is sharpened by contributions from longtime collaborators Adrian Knight and David Lackner on keyboards, saxophone, and flute. Ethereal synths and stoic rhythms push “Wild Wolf” deep into the darkness to tug at the roots holding us back. Cohen, as ever, is determined, unafraid. This is where magic is borne.
Moonrising will be released on July 8 via Styles Upon Styles (US) and Dinosaur City (AU/NZ). Pre-order HERE.
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