ALICJA-POP

“Luckily for us, Alicja (Trout) is prolific as she is talented.

Howlin' is not only a great collection of songs, but balances her considerable skills excellently.

It's a very cool record.”

Henry Rollins

Alicja Trout (Alicja-pop) first became infatuated with songwriting at 16 years old when she heard a tape by a classmate’s older brother Tim Feleppa. Tim made music on a 4-track cassette recorder in his little NYC apartment. It was like nothing she ever heard on the radio, and she wanted to make some too. Several of her friends were really into this tape of great poppy lo-fi songs, experimental drones, and cool sound effects.  Several years later she got her own recording set-up and was trading ideas and tapes with musical friends. She was a part of the “4-trackers” who were making songs at home with headphones and whatever weird cheap or discarded gear they could get their hands on. This was Alicja’s biggest influence and inspiration for Alicja-pop.  Even though her musical style can manifest as rough and dark, Prince was always a mainstream influence because of his diverse catalog and the fact that he wrote and recorded it all.  

Each song on this new Alicja-pop album explores a different style and theme.  “Howlin’” is a compilation of several years of songs.  Some tracks are minimal with one instrument, some are studio recordings with layers of vocal harmonies and instrument overdubs.  Some tracks fall in between.  Each song included on “Howlin’” is crafted with catchy hooks and easy flowing chord progressions.  Alicja-pop is both a solo endeavor and a group venture.  Alicja-pop performs as a live band currently featuring Lori McStay, Jared McStay, and Andrew Geraci.  Alicja Trout also performs with River City Tanlines, Mouserocket, and Sweet Knives (ex-Lost Sounds).  

reviews

This collection of songs recorded over the last few years is cold, hard proof that Memphis punk vet Alicja Trout is a beast at multiple subgenres. While fans of Trout’s old bands the River City Tanlines and Lost Sounds will drool over the ominous punk and tense new wave on Side B, my favorite tracks are the ones based on low-fi, smoked-out keyboard grooves that kinda remind me of the weirder stuff that the Breeders have been exploring on their last few albums. While the styles on this record are far-ranging, they’re held together by the consistently catchy and sophisticated songwriting. It skips around but there are definitely no skippers. - RAzorcake | read

Each song on this new Alicja-pop album explores a different style and theme. Howlin’ is a collection of several years of songs. Some tracks are minimal with one instrument, some are studio recordings with layers of vocal harmonies and instrument overdubs. Some tracks fall in between. Each song included on Howlin’ is crafted with catchy hooks and easy flowing chord progressions. - The Perlich Post | READ

#10 Album of the Year: From a standpoint of a music reviewer, one reliable yardstick of high quality is when you keep a record in heavy rotation for a week or two (or more) after the review has posted. The problem of course, it that this situation is never evident until…well, you’ve probably figured it out.

But it just dawned on me that I could mention this circumstance in relation to Howlin’ by Alicja-Pop, the solo endeavor/ group venture of the extremely musically active Alicja Trout of Memphis, TN, because I’d already sussed that this self-described compilation of several years of songs was a solid effort while reviewing it a few months back. That Trout’s forte on Howlin’ is modestly scaled pop-rock likely solidified my initial level of assessment, but after soaking up “Vines B” for the umpteenth time and for the sheer hell of it, the depth of her talents became clear.  -READ | The Vinyl District

The 12-track album by Alicja Trout aka Alicja-Pop, known from cult bands such as Lost Sounds and Sweet Knives, begins with garagig-dark, sometimes hypnotic indie pop / wave. The sound is wrapped in a lulling, chubby lo-fi coat and the collar is turned up to the dark rims of the eyes. Melancholic, playful and rather averse to daylight as in "Incandescent Time Continuum" and "yellow moon". With »Feel It« just before the end of the A-side, things get sportier: The slightly reverberant vocals get a punk touch and resemble Anne Clark's narrative vocals. But she packed the hits and delicacies on the B-side. It starts furiously with the garage punk number »Don´t Say No«, which is suitable for indie disco, followed by the lo-fi rock number »Creepface«, and then seduces with an oriental-inspired lo-fi dream psych (»Will U Come«) and to slow down the pace a little. "Shadow Hills" sounds melancholy washed out with a slight psych note. But then comes the goosebumps hit on the record: the wonderfully lost "That Is Why", with its sweet, bluesy melancholy reminiscent of the early ballads by Bob Dylan. After that, all you really need to do is lie down, autumn goes by on its own. The recordings, which Alicja Trout made alone or with guests from her musical environment, date from 2017 to 2020 and were all recorded in Memphis, Tennessee. - Dresdner Kulturmagazin | READ

The musical achievements of Alicja Trout are considerable. From her home base of Memphis, she’s played in numerous bands, a few of them still extant, she’s operated her own label, and she’s worked at her project Alicja-Pop, which Trout describes as both a “solo endeavor and a group venture…” On Howlin’, her second LP of Alicia-Pop material, available on 180g black vinyl and digital on October 15 through Black & Wyatt Records, the dozen tracks reinforce Trout’s stated duality as they unwind with nary a hiccup. Amid stylistic range, the common threads are strong songs and inspired execution.

Given all this activity, one might gather the impression that Trout enjoys making music. Howlin’ easily substantiates this notion, with the opening track “Incandescent Time Continuum” falling on the “group venture” side of Alicja-Pop’s spectrum (the participants are listed as Lori McStay, Jared McStay, and Andrew Geraci). While there’s a persistent layer of electronics running through its New Wavy sensibility (an aura enhanced in no small part by Trout’s singing), there is also a surplus of raw, stinging guitar, no surprise given the background detailed above. - The Vinyl District | READ

Just over a year ago we wrote about a new track from Alicja Trout’s Alicja-Pop project. Now “Howlin'” has been incorporated into her first proper full-length, also called Howlin’. Five years ago Trout released the compilation Rats (Home Recordings 2009-2013) on Certified PR. The new album picks up where that left off, including two tracks dating as far back as 2017. The majority of the 12 tracks, however, were recorded during the past three years and are now being released on vinyl by Black & Wyatt Records. The album understandably varies in style, from the more hummable early Alicja-Pop output, to some more electronic stuff to that almost sounds like Lost Sounds (like the visceral “Creepface”). -Record Turnover | READ

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Howlin’ Album Release
Photos by Dan Ball | November 12, 2021 - B-Side Memphis

GONERFEST 18 - Alicja Trout, Andrew Geraci (bass), Jared McStay (guitar), Lori Gienapp McStay (drums)

Photos by Mike McCarthy | September 23, 2021 - Railgarten, Memphis