Concerts

Relish the ‘Slow Burn’ of ‘Til It’s Gone’ with Ali McGuirk in Somerville

The multi-time Boston Music Awards contender and winner will show off her latest album at Crystal Ballroom on Oct. 7.

Photo by Ben Collins

2 minutes to read

Since releasing her debut album, “Slow Burn,” in 2017, Boston-area native-turned-Burlington, Vermont resident Ali McGuirk has been incapable of going unrecognized.

Her numerous Boston Music Awards include one each for New Artist (2017), 617 Sessions Artist (2018), and Unsigned Artist (2018); two each for Live Music Residency, which she won in 2018, Singer-Songwriter, and Vocalist; and four for Blues Artist, which she also won in 2018.

And her R&B qualities have not gone unnoticed, as she was up for the R&B Act of the Year honor at the 2018 New England Music Awards.

McGuirk herself has described her sound as a “multi-genre experience” that “at a baseline, [is] soul music.”

Thus, it is unsurprising that she has said of the evolution of her influences, “In high school, it was Joni Mitchell and Neil Young singer-songwriters. In college, it was jazz [e.g., Dinah Washington, Etta James, Sarah Vaughan, and Abbey Lincoln]. And all along it’s been soul. My go-to is still turning on Donny Hathaway to chill.”

The non-stop acknowledgement carries on with the recent release of two singles from her brand new album, “Til It’s Gone,” which she co-produced with Jonah Tolchin.

Of “All Back,” Mary Siroky of Consequence (formerly Consequence of Sound) wrote, “McGuirk channels a touch of Amy Winehouse,” and that the song “could be on a record in the background of a party in a 1970s bungalow, or it could be on your Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify.”

Under the Radar’s Caleb Campbell opined of “X Boyfriends,” “McGuirk’s vocals are the spotlit focal point, bolstered by swelling harmonies, bursts of smoky guitar, soulful organ melodies, and luxuriant grooves.”

Her September-October tour in support of “Til It’s Gone” includes venues and festivals in New York, each New England state, Nashville, and Peninsula, Ohio.

Opening her Oct. 7 show at Crystal Ballroom will be Haiti-born Milton High School (and Penn State) graduate Dutch ReBelle, who has received Boston Music Awards nominations for Artist (2014), Song (2014), Music Video – Unsigned Artist (2017), and Hip Hop Artist, which she was awarded in 2014 and was in contention for in each of the five subsequent years.