Alela Diane’s new album Cusp is, first and foremost, about her experience becoming a mother, and perhaps more indirectly about the way that identity has intersected with her preexisting identity as a musician.
Since her 2006 debut, The Pirate’s Gospel, the Portland singer/songwriter’s records have cataloged different chapters of life, with incisive lyrics that often source metaphors from the natural world, rootsy acoustic guitar melodies, and Diane’s powerful, magnetic voice. But motherhood and pregnancy are still kind of taboo to write songs about, which is why I got a little thrill when I first heard her sing about feeling movement in her womb on the standout track “Ether & Wood.”
Diane wrote Cusp during an artist residency in the Cascade Mountains, removed from her maternal responsibilities. After breaking her thumbnail on the very first day of the program (which made it difficult to fingerpick her guitar), she decided to try writing songs on the piano. As a result of that broken nail, piano is Cusp’s primary instrument.