THE WORLD'S BEST NEW MUSIC

ALA.NI (Alani Gibbon) is a London-born, Paris-based singer-songwriter known for her exquisite, acapella-rooted vocal purity, Broadway-honed theatricality, and minimalist chamber-pop aesthetic. Adrian Younge is Los Angeles's premier composer, multi-instrumentalist, and analogue preservationist, whose Linear Labs studio and work with Art Ensemble of Chicago, Ghostface Killah, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (Jazz Is Dead) have defined 21st-century cinematic soul. Crafted across nearly ten years during ALA.NI’s time in Los Angeles, Proud of Me pairs her singular vocal grace with Younge’s immaculately groomed, vintage analogue orchestration.

The album represents a deeply personal, diaristic snapshot of the artist, tracing love, longing, grief, and self-possession. Where ALA.NI's past work often leaned into stark vocal isolation, Adrian Younge surrounds her instrument with lush Linear Labs production - rich tape-warmth, haunting woodwinds, and subtle orchestral phrasing that elevate rather than crowd her presence.

Standout cuts including the delicatly charming "Middle of Nowhere," the funk-rock of "Dusty Road" and  "Face in the Evening,"a Karen Carpenter-adjacent crooner  - showcase ALA.NI's range, balancing strength and wistful vulnerability over Younge’s cinematic backdrops. Elsewhere, "Lament for Emmett Till" highlights the project's deeper emotional gravity, confronting loss and historical memory with poise. 

Listeners attention should be drawn to opening and closing cuts of the album, "Proud of Me" and "Walk Me To." These austere speak-singing bookends represent an intentional artistic choice, framing the record like theatrical curtains opening and closing a personal memoir. However, they represent stark entry and exit points to the album, that may skew its reception. Recognising them as artistic framing allows one to fully appreciate the lush, accessible chamber-soul masterpiece flourishing in between.

Unfolding like a late-night chamber-soul conversation, Proud of Me is a grows-on-you, infectious, beautifully polished meeting of two distinct artistic visions.