More To Life Than This by poppostergirl
"More To Life Than This" is the singer-songwriter side of Alexis--not that her sense of musicality and way around a melody are ever lost, but there are fewer flecks of electronic sparkle on it than are on "Rock This Disco" or "Coming On Strong"--but instantly accessible, catchy in a "favorite album track" sort of way. Over a strummy guitar backdrop, Alexis narrates a story for anyone who's ever felt like they're stuck in a life that isn't the one they imagined for themselves. It's an unassuming mid-tempo track that, in a reverse of the singer's growing realization of dissatisfaction, slowly reveals itself to be a quiet anthem. Less a song for winter depression and more for an overcast late summer day.(Alexis, to work back to what I probably should have started with, is a very talented British artist who is the poster child for how frustrating the music industry can be. She was signed to a deal with one record company in 2002, recorded an album, released a single, and was dropped before being signed by another record company a few years later, recording another album, releasing another single, and being dropped again. She's also the creator and original singer of Rachel Stevens's much-adored song "Nothing Good About This Goodbye" as well as Kylie Mingoue's "Still Standing." After her time fronting an unsigned group, I thought she basically retired from the industry--figuring a song of hers that appeared on German group Monrose's third album was just an old song finally making an appearance--but apparently she did some writing for Diana Vickers's album, though nothing made the cut. She's worked with some incredible songwriters and producers like Greg Kurstin, Xenomania, Pascal Gabriel, Richard X, and Billy Steinberg, but she's a talent in her own right. Please write more, Alexis! Or, perhaps more accurately, please use the songs she writes, singers!)
You can buy some of Alexis Strum's music via Amazon UK. If you live in the UK, her work from her second album is available on iTunes.
