Alison Moyet On Her Career & New Album ‘Other’

Prolific singer and songwriter Alison Moyet has gone through many changes throughout her career. She first began as one half of the electronica group Yazoo – known to Americans as ‘Yaz’ – but pursued a solo career after the duo released their second album. She has since released eight solo albums – her most recent and ninth album, Other, will be released on June 17.

Moyet recently sat down with uInterview to discuss her career, her musical style, and her new album and tour.

Moyet’s music, since her early days in Yaz, has mostly always been rooted in electronica. Other has been regarded as a call back to those roots, although Moyet doesn’t completely agree.

“I call it prog rock, although, I’ve been told not to,” Moyet told uInterview exclusively. “That’s kind of what it is to me. It’s an album that’s based on its lyricism, its poetry, and the songs are cut to fit the words as opposed to the words being cut to fit the songs.”

But what really sets Other apart from Moyet’s previous albums is its inspiration.

The two-time BRIT Award winner and Grammy nominee spent most of her career writing her music from a place of physical isolation. But after a move several years ago, Moyet now lives in Brighton, a town in the south of England, where she is surrounded by people from all walks of life.

“I used to live a bit into the country where I was quite isolated … I spent many years of my life feeling observed,” said Moyet.

And then she moved. “Instead of living in this big house with a big sweeping drive, I bought myself a terrace and I walk everywhere, I think I’ve driven twice in two years, and consequently I observe.”

“It’s about watching. This town is so brilliantly interesting, so much diversity, young people and old people, and different sexualities and different religions – a real melting pot of otherness, which appeals to me.”

With a new perspective, Moyet has decided to focus her music more on the poetry and less on her big, towering voice, the one that first catapulted her to prominence. While her voice has become softer, her words have become louder.

Said Moyet, “It’s what you leave out, as much as what you put in.”

For fans that worry that Moyet has traveled in a direction that leaves out the Yaz era, they need not worry any longer. The new tour, coming to the US in September, will feature an electronic set, allowing the singer to reach back into the Yaz discography.

And the live set, Moyet believes, will not disappoint.

“There is a lot of energy, it’s quite irreverent. I’m always in the moment, I’m always there with it, and I love connecting with the audience,” she said.

“I feel very good about my live work, I think you should come!”