SASHA BELL

Love Is Alright BOTH SIDES NOW 5/10

Solo debut from the Ladybug Transistor vocalist

Sasha Bell has been making music on and off for more than 20 years, harmonising curiously with the Elephant 6-adjacent bands Ladybug Transistor and the Essex Green. Love Is Alright, her first solo album, took nearly six years and at least one false start to make. The heraldic “Candy Mountain” and psychedelic closer “The Library” draw from the familiar ’60s pop of her day-job bands, with Bell introducing a sharp edge to her voice – like Cilla Black with a dark secret. On the whole, the album sounds overwhelmed with ideas that distract from rather than focus her lyrics about lost friends, familial rifts and old books.