Sometime in the summer of 2023, Allegra Krieger’s flat in New York’s Chinatown burned down. There isn’t a song about it on any of her albums, at least at the time of writing. By the time you’re reading this, or attending an Allegra Krieger concert, the story may be very different. A prolific singer-songwriter with a discreet existence, Krieger sings – and composes – like a Joni Mitchell trapped in the present. And because she’s stuck in it, she knows how important it is to exist and tell it, to write something that defines it and records it, leaving a mark for posterity. Better to do it before the next thing happens. Allegra knows there’s no point in putting off inspiration.

Why should I? Things have been going well so far. Yes, you had a somewhat low-key start to your career, but that’s about to change. There are signs of that. “Precious Thing” (2022), her third album, drew attention to the songs written in the greatest heat of emotion and with a discernment all of their own, a sign of someone who reads patterns well and transforms the mundane into the excellent. In 2023 he released two albums, “I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plane” and “Fragile Planes: B-sides”, the latter with songs that were born during the recording period of the main album, although not necessarily in the sessions for that album. Because of what was said earlier, Krieger is prolific. And for the last two years – and now – she’s been at a creative peak, challenging the present to keep up with her. The comparison with Joni Mitchell exists because of her voice and the way she moves between genres without ever thinking of folk. Sometimes you realise it’s more jazz than folk, or that in the last three minutes you’ve heard a piano and not a voice and a guitar. It’s not the listener’s inattention, it’s the singer’s transformative talent and the ease with which she lets her songs transform themselves: they’re self-justifying, with treats from nature filling an imaginary of a young urban woman linked to a post-pandemic rage for life.

Listen to “Low” and you’ll be navigating that idea of stripping someone down, Allegra makes it as personal as it can be. We’re a fly in the room, but there’s nothing strange here, that’s what happens in all of Allegra Krieger’s songs. We’re waiting for the fire, then. AS

(they/them)

Always earnest, always relatable. Under the Radar Magazine (US) calls them “Lisbon’s finest new musical export”. Through their guitar fingerpicking and emotionally charged voice, Portuguese singer-songwriter Pip Marinho (stage name: Marinho) underscores life’s delicate nuances between holding pain and releasing it. Cathartic resolutions come in the form of alternative folk rock songs they’ve written and assembled on their 2019 debut album ​~ (read ‘tilde’) and other works they’re preparing to release. Their deeply personal and confessional music is undoubtedly cementing their growing reputation.