Who's Keeping Time? Alela Diane

• 1 California 03:29
• 2 Galloping 03:30
• 3 In My Own Time 03:10
• 4 Dusty Roses 03:23
• 5 Could Be 03:33
• 6 Spring Is A Fine Time 03:35
• 7 Wide Open Spaces 04:31
• 8 Piss, Coffee, Blood or Wine? 04:16
• 9 To Be Kind 03:29
• 10 Fragile As A Flame 04:02
• 11 Endless Waltz 04:11
• Total Runtime 41:09

Info for Who's Keeping Time?

In circles and ever changing, “Who’s Keeping Time?” is a musing on life’s seasons—fleeting truths of beauty and chaos. For 10 days in August of 2025, we made this record in the attic of my 1892 Victorian home in Portland, Oregon, where all the songs were written. The scene felt kindred to a mouse house: a cozy world built of antique quilts, musical instruments, sound baffles, relics, marigolds, great-grandma’s dolls, old photographs, paintings and brightly colored rugs. Sunshine poured through the skylights as Maggie the cat slept atop the pre-amps and inside guitar cases. We played these songs together in one room: no click tracks, no tricks, and no fuss. This is music from the hearts and breathing bodies of human beings, imperfect as we may be.

"Alela’s new album, Looking Glass, meets us as we collectively pull ourselves from the ashes of a few really rough years. In “Howling Wind,” Alela’s voice is honest and intimate, accompanied by resonant piano, harmonica, and acoustic guitar. She sings, “Time, slow as honey / Haven't found a way I can move through / Oh, the days are so thick and so cruel / I am losing myself.” Images of the pandemic, wildfires, and police brutality swirl, and yet she points us back towards hope, asking, “Is this how it ends? / Could it be this is how it begins? / Voices ricochet, shouting as one / On that wild howling wind.” (cordella.org, Cate Clother, Editor in Chief)

Alela Diane, vocals, acoustic guitar
Danny Austin-Manning, drums, percussion
Sebastian Owens, double bass, bass clarinet
Sam Weber, guitars, piano, electric piano, Mellotron, Ace Tone
Kati Claborn, clarinet, banjo, background vocals, Dulcimer
Peter Lalish, guitars
Luke Ydstie, high strung guitar, Wurlitzer, lap steel
AC Sapphire, background vocals
Anna Tivel, violin, background vocals

Alela Diane
has ranked among the most distinctive voices in American indie-folk for over two decades. Growing up in a musically rich environment, she turned to the guitar and songwriting at an early age.

She garnered international attention in the mid-2000s with the album *The Pirate’s Gospel*; its stripped-down arrangements and evocative imagery quickly established her as a fixture within a new generation of folk artists.

Diane’s music thrives on restraint and precision: a clear, unadorned voice, acoustic instrumentation, and lyrics that weave personal experiences together with universal themes. Nature, transience, relationships, and processes of inner transformation run like a common thread through her body of work. Critics have described her songs as "quiet, yet possessing a lasting impact," while *Paste Magazine* has characterized her tracks as "flawlessly beautiful indie-folk songs."

Today, Alela Diane resides in Portland, Oregon. Her songs continue to exist beyond the ebb and flow of musical trends—introspective, and imbued with poetic clarity and a quiet resolve. Her new—and sixth—studio album, *Looking Glass*, was produced by Tucker Martine (Neko Case, My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists) and features contributions from artists including Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket), Scott Avett (The Avett Brothers), and Ryan Francesconi (Joanna Newsom). It is not without reason that *Rolling Stone* has hailed it as a "poignant masterpiece." As *Bedroomdisco* observed, she takes "moments from her own life" and "transforms them into songs with which we can all identify."

Alela Diane represents a brand of folk music that is neither nostalgically backward-looking nor beholden to the past; rather, it speaks directly from the present moment—timeless, magnificent music that never imposes itself, but instead creates space. She possesses an uncanny ability to completely detach herself—and her music—from any specific musical or historical context. We are looking forward to this with reverent anticipation—and are already a little proud—that OBS is the only festival they are gracing with their presence as part of their European tour this spring.

This album contains no booklet.