Alesia Xo
The Corner
Oh, what a voice.
It cannot be helped that the first thing anybody notices from singer/songwriter Alesia Xo is the fistful of power in her vocals. It’s rare these days to hear new talent simply isn’t the product of studio gloss. Xo’s singing is raw, edgy, combining the melancholic tones of Melissa Etheridge with the gritty punch of Janis Joplin. “The Corner” cuts deep into the heart with the serious angst in her voice. It is beautiful to hear such an angelic roar.
Bluesy riffs and rock-solid drumming provide the backbone of “The Corner” but it is Xo’s soulful vocals that take it to a higher level. Xo is definitely a graduate of the Bonnie Raitt school of singing; she has that kind of emotional range, that perfect balance of fragility and force. Too much contemporary music is smoothed over. Xo echoes the days when singers were allowed to let it rip. And rip she does. Xo tears into the reality of relationships with unyielding honesty. In other words, she rocks.
And that, really, is what you oughta know.
