Alaska Reid

Alaska Reid is a singer-songwriter, previously a member of the band Alyeska (the one based in LA) who has recently been working solo. She plays indie rock with strong pop overtones though she is not locked into a singular style. She often moves between emotionally vulnerable and sorrowful tunes on the one hand, and more uptempo rock pieces that may sound as if Dinosaur Jr were inhabited by the spirit of a coffee house folk musician. That is not to say that she attempts to capture the classic alt-rock sound from the '90s. There is clearly a contemporary twist to her hooks and instrumentation, but the way she cranks up the distortion every now and then feels liberating and suggests that somewhere out there, J. Mascis must be smiling.