Al Harper
ABOUT
Landing in the SF Bay by way of Bakersfield at 17, Al Harper has honed a unique California sea-breeze sound with a subtle twang the likes of Linda Ronstadt or The Roches might approve of. Over the years, she’s made her way around the SF music scene (with an indie-sleaze era stint in New York) lending a proprietary blend of bittersweet vocals, guitar and keyboards to various acts including Baby Cakes, Tony Jay and Eternal Drag.
Al’s early musical germinations came in the form of public school violin lessons followed by a years-long stint on the tween choir scene. Under the arthritic tutelage of one of few formal music teachers, Al found herself trying to adapt songs like No Doubt’s “Spiderwebs” to suit beginner-level piano recitals. She eventually turned to the guitar in high school, at a time when retrospectively disparate hits like Celebrity Skin and Baby One More Time were battling for the top spots on MTV’s Total Request Live, in effect demanding that millennial girls choose their fighter. Recognizing the power of sharing her unique relationships with both a delicious MTV bubblegum pop nostalgia and the deeper DIY ethos of singing something true that nestles universal on the plane, Al and her band deliver tender, bodily melodies that leave us feeling like we got lucky enough to stumble into the house party in the Smashing Pumpkins’ 1979 video.
Her second solo album, The Analemma Observation League, was released in 2024 on Take-A-Turn Records
~Lani Wild
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