Alaska Reid

A moody modern singer/songwriter whose darkly shimmering surfaces reflect the emotional turmoil lying within her songs, indie pop troubadour Alaska Reid merges classic alternative influences with a contemporary sensibility. Alyeska, the band she fronted as a teenager, provided a vehicle for her to channel her love of Dinosaur Jr. (Crush, her group's 2017 album, was helmed by their producer John Agnello), but as a solo act, she pursued electronic-inflected productions that contrasted nicely with her airy yet firm voice. Her 2020 solo debut, Big Bunny, produced in part with A.G. Cook of PC Music, showcased this musical transition, an evolution that was firmly in place when she delivered her second album, Disenchanter, in 2023. As a child, Alaska Reid's family moved often, but she came to call Park County, Montana, home. Her family relocated to Los Angeles as she got a little older, by which time she already had fallen in love with music. She took vocal lessons in Montana, then was drawn to the sounds of Dinosaur Jr. and the Breeders. Her parents gave her a guitar under the provision that she practiced regularly, and she soon started to write songs. Through her uncle, she learned about alternate tunings, incorporating nonstandard tunings in her playing and songwriting not long afterward. At the age of 14, Reid started playing in Los Angeles, sometimes popping up in clubs on the Sunset Strip. She formed the Alyeska band as a way of giving herself a support system and she stuck with the group through Crush, an album produced by John Agnello, who previously worked with Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, and Kurt Vile. Alyeska disbanded shortly after the 2017 release of Crush, leading Reid to a brief period of regrouping. A meeting with A.G. Cook -- the producer and musician behind the PC Music label -- revitalized her, leading to the material that comprised Big Bunny, her 2020 solo debut EP; she also sang on his albums 7G and Apple. After releasing new "Midnight" versions of "Mermaid Tears" and "Oblivion" as the split single "Oblivion Tears" in early 2021, Reid delivered two subsequent tracks that year: "Being Shy" and a cover of Dinosaur Jr.'s "Feel the Pain." Reid spent most of 2022 alternating between the studio and the road, supporting Charli XCX, Porches and the Drums; her main recording that year was a duet with Dylan Fraser on his single "Vampire." Early in 2023, Reid released "Back to This." "She Wonders" and "Palomino" both appeared before Disenchanter -- another collaboration with A.G. Cook -- arrived in July 2023.
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