Back in 2017, New York’ Allegra Krieger released Circles, a collection of eight songs that pushed the boundaries of what constitutes folk music. Displaying an experimental mindset, Krieger fleshed out the tracks with an almost avant garde sensibility, the laid back atmosphere belying the detailed and often eccentric arrangements. But none of this suffocated the true centre of the sound, Krieger’s vocals capable of confessional whispers and warm croons and dramatic rises in emotion too, marking Circles as not only an inventive but emotionally-resonant record.
Having recently signed with Northern Spy Records, Allegra Krieger is back with a brand new single, ‘The Push and The Pull’. Intended as a “reflection on each person’s capacity to experience great emotional heights and depths,” the song builds on what came before to create a nuanced atmosphere capable of evoking the entire spectrum of human feeling. Again there is an easy-going rhythm to the track that draws the listener in, though it’s soon apparent that there are competing currents beneath the surface calm.
It’s in the pull and roll of these unseen yet powerful forces that Krieger pitches her songs. ‘The Push and The Pull’ displays every bit of the duality and tension that its title suggests. The competition of emotions, the peaks and the troughs, but also the strange inertia that might result. For, when subject to equal and opposite forces, the end result is often the opposite of change. Allegra Krieger isn’t here to pretend that such turmoil is also some transformative event, rather help us appreciate that there is beauty in process of living in any case.
The sad, simple truth,
no matter what you do
some things always remain.
The sad thing to know
no matter where you go
you will still feel the sameBut how beautiful,
the push and the pull,
of the human race
‘The Push and The Pull’ is out now via Northern Spy Records, and the Allegra Krieger’s debut full-length album will be released later this year.