Placelessness

Born in the Ukraine and raised in Boston suburbia, it wasn't until she landed in hot-ass Austin that Alina Simone found her voice in the doorway of an abandoned bar near the corner of 6th and Congress and began to sing. Fittingly, a fact of the content her raw, threadbare songs is about having epiphanies in the most ordinary of places. Her second album, Placelessness, was produced by Steve Revitte (The Double, Black Dice, Liars). Her aching, longing voice recalls Pat Benetar channeling Chan Marshall, but she possesses a singular delivery and potency that complements songs whose sparse arrangements and arpeggiated melodies would make PJ Harvey or Low proud.