Alma (American singer)

Alma
Cook recording in Chicago in 2013
Background information
Birth name	Alma Lynn Cook
Born	(1991-10-27) October 27, 1991 Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Genres	Blue-eyed soul pop spoken word
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals ukulele piano
Years active	2012–present
Website	www.hearalma.com

Alma Lynn Cook (born October 27, 1991) is an American singer-songwriter and spoken word artist professionally known as Alma.^[1] Her debut album Pass It On was released in 2012, and her single "For a Poet" and full-length project Tactics followed in 2014.^[2][3][4]

Biography

Early life

Growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, Cook claims to have become a musician gradually and "more or less by accident."^[5] As a child she experimented with poetry, drawing inspiration from the fictional character Anne of Green Gables. When she entered junior high, Cook began setting her poems to music and viewed songwriting as a coping mechanism amidst the challenges of adolescence.^[6]

Columbia College and Tactics

After high school, Cook moved to Chicago to study vocal performance at Columbia College.^[2][7] She played in various bars and cafes across the city and twice performed alongside contemporary gospel musician Jonathan McReynolds at the local Artistsphere showcase.^[3][8]

Drawing upon the music production experience of her peers, Cook released an EP entitled Pass It On in September 2012. One song from the release, "Homecoming," was licensed for use in the Magisto video creation application.^[9] Cook later released the single "For a Poet," which became the No. 2 most requested song on Radio Nova Portugal in December 2014.^[10]

While attending Columbia, Cook met bassist Chris Thigpen, whose father Cornell Thigpen worked as an instrumentalist alongside Mary J. Blige, Chaka Kahn, Stevie Nicks, and Patti LaBelle.^[11][12] Chris went on to produce Cook's first full-length album Tactics, recruiting his father to play on the song "Hotshot."^[13]

The songs on Tactics carry ideologies that have become distinctive of Cook's style. When asked about the album's themes in an interview with VENTS magazine, Alma said that writings by the author C.S. Lewis prompted her to become "hyperaware" of the tendencies of human nature.^[14]

An honest depiction of human nature is definitely the theme of Tactics. When friends saw the initial track list, one of them asked me if I had a "seven deadly sins" theme going on—and I mean, no, but kind of. When you’re really honest with yourself about your character, you start to see that any one of us has the potential to commit any amount of evil, even if we think we’re above it.^[14]

— Alma

In the same interview, Cook commented that the album's songs were written over the span of several years, describing her writing pace as "incredibly unpredictable."^[14]

An album review by The Phantom Tollbooth magazine said of Cook's performance on Tactics, "Alma has the vocal innocence of Amber Rubarth combined with vocal qualities rivaling Denise Donatelli."^[15]

Los Angeles move

Cook moved from Chicago to Los Angeles after the release of Tactics in October 2014.^[3][16] At one performance at Republic of Pie in North Hollywood, Cook met radio producer and writer Phil Giangrande and was invited to appear on his podcast, Seated at the Writer's Table.^[6]

The Travel Size EP

On October 22, 2015, Cook released "Oh, K," the first single from her 2016 album The Travel Size EP.^[17]

On December 14, the single "Medicine Man" was released. Cook said in an interview with Songwriting Magazine that the song was "some of the fasted writing" she had ever done. She told the magazine that the songwriting process began with a "steady, unrelenting heartbeat sound" in her head that influenced the track from beginning to end.^[18]

Artistic philosophy

Faith

Cook frequently mentions her Christian faith when talking about her artistic philosophy. She told PopWrapped in 2015,

The fingerprints of my faith can be found all over everything I create. I believe that good art speaks the truth—and as a Christian, I believe that the truth basically boils down to two principles: (1) humans are broken and flawed but (2) we have access to redemption. A 'true' song might lean more into one of those principles than the other, but I hope that my body of work, when taken as whole, communicates them both.^[19]

The religious undertones of Cook's music are not always evident. The Deli Magazine commented in 2014 that Cook's single "For a Poet" was "not overly religious."^[20] But other tracks like "Hypocrite," which confronts Christians who engage in premarital sex, deal with overtly Christian issues.^[21]

Cook spoke at Abundant Life Christian School in 2013, saying that the students should "think critically" about the art they consume and should create art of their own on a regular basis.^[22]

Success

In the same PopWrapped interview, Cook said, "Critical acclaim and support is only important insofar as it means more people are being challenged and edified by the art. … Desiring attention for its own sake is destructive and will ultimately lead to disappointment."^[19]

Cook also published a blog post in 2015 where she argued that "fame-sickness" creates a world where artists place their own personal success over the wellbeing of their listeners. She wrote:

Fame-sickness is really no wonder — after all, our very biology primes us to seek attention — but we each have a sneaking suspicion that something is wrong with this picture. In what other line of work is the employee valued over the customer or the host valued over the guest? … In chasing uniqueness and significance, we get so caught up in being the stars of our own stories that we forget something critical: heroes are heroes because they put others first.^[23]

Touring

In the fall of 2013, Cook toured with then-Philadelphia-based folk artist Kwesi K as an opening act and backing vocalist. A blogger who reviewed one of their shows at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia described Cook's vocal stylings as "Mariah Carey meets Ingrid Michaelson."^[24]

Cook's background vocals are also featured in a Daytrotter session with Kwesi recorded in Rock Island, Illinois.^[25] The pair performed three original songs by Kwesi and a cover of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car."^[26]

Collaborations

In 2014, Cook was recruited by Terrence Howard to provide supplemental vocals for his original song "What The DJ Spins" for the 2015 TV series Empire. The song was produced and arranged by Howard and Carlos Villalobos at 2424 Studios in Chicago.^[27]

Cook collaborated with Madison graphics artist John Weeden for two animated lyric videos, one for Cook's song "Chicago (Beacons)" and the other for her spoken word piece "Hypocrite." The "Chicago" video was acclaimed in 2014 by the Madison chapter of Media Communication Association-International, winning a WAVE award (Web Audio and Visual Excellence) and a Judge's Choice award.^[28][29] "Hypocrite" also won a WAVE award in 2015.^[30]

Discography

• Pass It On (2012)^[2]
• Us Three: A Live Acoustic Session (2013)
• Tactics (2014)
• For a Poet - Single (2014)^[1]
• The Travel Size EP (2016)^[17]

References