Songs of the Saxophones

Album review

Alexi Erenkov and Alison Alderdice, a couple from the San Francisco Bay, embark the listener on a romantic and delightful ride. Their album is a true representation of their amorous feeling, the core theme of their work. They both seem to have come straight out of another era, with their dreamy faces glowing with warm and dear feelings. This first album Song of the Saxophones reveals Alexi’s sensual, deep and melancholic voice. A voice that strolls on top of a saxophone solo, that makes room for languid jazz sonorities worthy of a cold rainy Sunday, reading a sentimental novel in a cosy home. It all evokes the fifties, when the flutes perfectly blend in with the charm of this young couple. When Alexi was just starting his solo career after playing in a university band as a saxophonist, he had a revelation listening to Just You in Twin Peaks. That was just the sound he and his wife were looking for and seeking in their compositions. It didn’t take long for them to compose the ten tracks of the album, and to record them in a studio in Portland. Inspired by David Lynch, the Saxophones have found a surprising form of tenderness and slowness that transports the listener into a haven of peace. An album that, much like what Richard Hawley did before them with Hollow Meadows, doesn’t require any whim to be sincere, and doesn’t fall into pathos. © Clara Bismuth/Qobuz