Alan Walker (the former frontman of New York’s The Brilliant Mistakes) writes melodies that stay in your head and heart. His second solo album, A little late, will be out June 28 on her own label, Aunt Mimi’s Records. With clever lyrics and harmonies, these songs feel fresh yet familiar, with nods to some of her favorite bands (The Beatles, Squeeze and Joe Jackson).
Walker composes at the piano and his music creates revealing impressions, planting the seeds of stories for listeners. He says what drives him are the songs themselves: “Once they’re in my head, I can’t get them out. I’ve loved music since I could walk, since I first heard the Let It Be album through my bedroom walls from the living room when my older brother played it for the first time. For me, the best moments with music are the original inspiration for a song, when a melody, chords and lyrics come together for the first time, and then taking that idea to a band or other musicians to see how it evolves.”
Alan and producer Lincoln Schleifer (Levon Helm, Buddy Miller, Donald Fagen) sought to make an organic record that had the feel of a classic ’70s album, in the vein of early Jackson Browne, where the songs determined the arrangements, the instruments and performers. and general mood. Led by Schleifer’s indomitable production and chart-topping genius, a cast of incredible musicians gathered in Lincoln’s Log Cabin basement recording studio in the Bronx. With Walker on piano and lead singer and Schleifer on bass and percussion, A Little Too Late’s core band includes Jon Herington (Steely Dan) on electric guitars, Rob Schwimmer on Hammond B3 and synthesizers, and John Morgan Kimock on drums .
Songs include the Beatle-y, harmony-filled album opener “The Morning After”; “Mama Kat,” a ballad driven by Larry Campbell’s exquisite pedal steel and acoustic guitar; the rootsy American pop tune “Twist of Fate” with a tragicomic tale of first attraction; and the whimsical “Town Called Misery,” with Schwimmer contributing ambiance by playing claviola, taisho harp, and some kitchen sink sounds.
“Only Son,” “Wait,” and “A Little Too Late” feature a touch of bluesy vocal harmony from special guests Teresa Wiliams and Lucy Kaplansky. Alan says: “It was really exciting to work with them both. Their enthusiasm for the songs and fun approach to recording made this a day I won’t soon forget, and they came up with some beautiful parts. Their contributions on each of these three tracks were quite varied and creatively unique, but I especially love what they did on ‘Only Son’, a very sad song where we tried very hard not to cross the line and sound maudlin. “I couldn’t be happier with the result.”
“Only Son,” says Alan, “may be one of the saddest songs I’ve ever written. It is dedicated to a friend’s mother who somehow, tragically, managed to lose her only son twice, the first time during the fall of Saigon shortly after he was born, and the second time to untreated cancer, when He was found alone on the floor of his apartment in Washington, DC. The lyrics tell the rest of the story, or at least try to make art out of real life.” Acclaimed cellists Myron Lutzke and Jake Charkey add to the feeling of heartbreak, giving rise to an intimate, sober and melancholic song.
“Wait” is an upbeat song from the Walker archives that comes to life on this collection, with Gary Sieger playing electric guitar. Here, Alan switches to Wurlitzer electric piano and they add the exceptionally talented Bill Holloman on tenor sax and Larry Etkin on trumpet.
The title track, “A Little Too Late,” offers a wry commentary on Walker’s songwriting career, replete with its own chorus. It’s a fictional relationship that seems to keep circling the same places. Alan comments, “Every album I work on with Lincoln has what we call the ‘art project,’ the song that turns out completely different from our original expectations. This arrangement is inspired by a couple of tracks from Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. Jon Herington channels the best of Richard Thompson on the guitar solo.”
“Somewhere Down the Line” is a lament full of romantic nostalgia, its sound enhanced by Holloman and Etkin on flugelhorns and Andy Burton on Fender Rhodes. The song’s lyrics address the types of secrets we keep even from those closest to us: “Cause you have my heart, and I only have what’s left inside… The truth is on my lips, but I can’t even help it . it. As we know? The damage of our secret lives… The truth is fading from our lives.”
On “Better Man,” a straightforward song, Schwimmer replaces his B3 with a Wurlitzer and the return of tenor saxophonist Holloman and trumpeter Etkin for some exceptional solos, ending the album on a high note.
A little history:
Alan Walker was born and raised in New York City and has been playing clubs in that city since the mid-80s. His first show was at CBGB and his first band, Club Iguana. He is the former lead singer and pianist and organist of the melodic roots-pop band The Brilliant Mistakes, named after a song by one of his songwriting mentors, Elvis Costello. With them, Walker played everywhere from the early ’90s until 2011, including all over New York City and Austin’s SXSW. Before stopping playing in 2012, they had released one EP and three albums, two of them produced by Schleifer, who also produced Alan’s debut solo album, Something Up My Sleeve, in 2019. In parallel to his musical career, Walker works full-time in book publishing (VP of Higher Education at Penguin Random House).
2024’s A Little Too Late is vibrant, polished, and full of clever roots-pop melodies. “I’ll let the listeners decide exactly what they want to hear,” says Alan, “interpreting the songs on their own, adding their own thoughts, dreams, preferences, etc.”
