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REVIEWS

Li Alin

XLR8 Magazine
LINK: http://www.xlr8r.com/reviews/li-alin/all

Reviewed by Rachel Shimp

"Li Alin is a mystery, and for now that's just as well. The story behind her mournful, raw songs-some with electronic embellishments, and all sung in French and English-might dilute the power of their presence. Backing her vocals with echoed pianos and skin-crawling cello strains, she creates authentically desolate atmospheres that re-claim Joy Division comparisons from the boy bands. When Alin whispers "My soul is bleeding/Today my heart is snowing," you believe it. Like a mistress sequestered in a tower, she contemplates love and the futility of life with heart-breaking precision. The eccentricities of Alin's incantations make them avant-goth of the highest order. Jokers say the goth dance goes pull the rope, kick the cat, toss the basket. Li Alin's compelling compositions add another step: rattle your bones."



ALL MUSIC GUIDE
LINK: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gpfpxqrdldfe

Reviewed by Heather Phares

Marking the first time Li Alin's music has appeared on CD, All In is a sometimes haunting, sometimes mischievous, and completely unique blend of electronica and cabaret. Alin has likened her music-making process to "remembering a dream," and there is a dreamlike intensity and vividness throughout All In that makes it utterly fascinating. Alin's rich, world-weary alto is so perfect for cabaret that even the album's most faithful interpretations of the style, such as the brash "Folie" and the bluer-than-blue "The Stirring" and "Divinations" never sound contrived. Likewise, she's completely natural (albeit anguished) while whispering lyrics like "My soul is bleeding...I'm yearning for your love in my bones" -- words that could sound silly or melodramatic in the mouths of most other singers -- on the gorgeous album opener, "Feu." Elsewhere, Alin adapts cabaret's glamour, darkness, and wit to her own ends, especially on "Killing Time," where you can hear the mischief and impatience in her voice as she shouts "killing time is killing me!" even as metallic percussion crashes around her. All In is also infused with vampish sexuality: "Jesus"' depiction of a mystery man who alternately eludes and seduces a nameless woman has a tribal, hypnotic pull, while "Little Girl" is Alin's take on flirtatious synth pop (and even "Pray"'s sinuous cello lines sound a little less than completely holy). When "J'Aspire"'s smoky strings bring All In to a close, it's hard to believe that its spellbinding dream is over. Fortunately, the album's dark, mysterious beauty only grows more compelling with time.


Li Alin

MUSIC EMMISSION
LINK: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gpfpxqrdldfe

Torch songs that mix French and English lyrics with an always evocative and bare voice, Alin shares personal pain and longing back by lush sexy pop and spare piano. Drop the needle anywhere on this disc, on "Feu" or "Killing Time," on "Pray" or the stunning "Little Girl" and you will both fall in love with Alin's vulnerability and be shaken by her power. "Jesus" channels Diamanda Galas as it does Frente!, but this is no place to roll out the tired lists of female singers to compare her to; this is a triumph that cant be sullied by any gender ghetto. Her mix of the holy and the profane is unsettling, but genuine in a truly poetic way. This is stunning, expressionistic noir that sends chills along with its love letters.