ALICE COSTELLOE AS AL COSTELLOE
London based singer-songwriter Al Costelloe is pleased to share her brand new video for recent single 'California', taking cues fro America's west coast and imbibing it with her own inimitable visually stunning approach.
She says: "California deals with saying goodbye to a problematic relationship and the places that were meaningful to it. The song was recorded in London, and my good friend Max Bloom from indie-rock band YUCK helped me to capture the melancholia of a difficult breakup alongside the sunshine tinged feeling of Southern California."
Having played in bands since she was 12 years old, London born musician and songwriter Al (Alice) Costelloe signed to Mute records at just 17 as half of shoegaze two-piece ‘Big Deal’. The band released 3 critically acclaimed albums, garnering enthusiastic support across British radio with multiple singles playlisted at BBC 6 music. Further to this, the inclusion of the duo’s song ‘Dream Machines’ on the soundtrack of blockbuster movie ‘Divergent’ helped deliver them to a wider audience, amassing 70,000 followers online and over 10,000,000 streams.
After years of international touring, supporting the likes of Depeche Mode and The Vaccines and appearing at festivals such as SXSW, NOS Alive and Reading & Leeds, Costelloe disbanded the band after the breakdown of the duo’s romantic partnership made continuing impossible. Disillusioned with life on the road, and traumatized by the tumultuous relationship within the project, Costelloe suffered a crisis of confidence in her musical capabilities and was resolved to never write or perform again, taking up a job as a nanny instead. However, whilst walking back from a shift one night she chanced upon the members of ‘Superfood’ (Dirty Hit) outside a local bar who convinced her to not give up on music and to play bass with the group as they toured their new album. Encouraged by the band members, as well as her partner ‘VANT’ (Parlophone) who she also began to tour with, Costelloe began to consider creating her own music again and tentatively started work on recording home demos which form the basis of her upcoming singles.
During the Covid lockdowns, Costelloe used the time to focus on songwriting. Motivated by a desire to finally make something that she would have complete creative control over, Alice started to consolidate her new project ‘Al Costelloe’, using the moniker her friends had always known her by. Having previously found it hard to express herself in the intimidating, often male-dominated environment of the recording studio, Costelloe found a new solution to this by enlisting friends such as her Superfood bandmate Ryan Malcolm to produce the songs with her, working virtually or from bedrooms and home studios that felt familiar and comfortable. The spark for music that was nearly extinguished by the end of Costelloe’s last endeavor has well and truly been rekindled as she looks to 2022 to make her mark, standing by herself and working on her own terms.
