Singer, songwriter, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist Steve Allain has produced a new album entitled ‘Bird in My Chest’. It is scheduled for world-wide release on all musical digital platforms on May 9th. A live show/record release party is also scheduled for May 18th at the Music Mansion in Providence, RI. 

As Allain tells it, the album was ‘a long time coming’.  It was conceived just before Covid, which is when recording commenced and tracks were being cut. When Covid struck, production was shut down. By the time the pandemic had subsided, Allain’s recording engineer and co-producer, Ross Lenzing, had moved to Vermont. Allain has enjoyed a long-time professional affiliation with Lenzing. In the music business, the musician/producer relationship is practically a sacred bond. Just ask Paul McCartney about famed producer George Martin.  

Allain found himself commuting, following Lenzing to Vermont to continue the work they had started. ‘’He’s a super engineer/producer and he has super equipment – he’s my guy,’’ said Allain. Recording continued and, ‘things were starting to move again, and it was going great’, when, surprisingly, Lenzing decided he was not happy in Vermont and moved back to this area. It took almost a year for Lenzing to set up a new studio, after which, Allain started recording again, finally wrapping up the project about a month ago. ‘Bird in my Chest’ took a staggering five years to complete.  

In this all-original, eleven-song collection, the Barrington resident bears witness for himself and all those who are unrequited and steeped in love's darkest trenches. Rejection, objection and reflection are the trifecta of themes that permeate throughout this effort. 

Sonically, this CD is exceptional - engineered fittingly and benevolently for this artist, and tailor made for these songs. The musicianship is striking and sparse. The production is clean and ingeniously modest. Many local, and even national albums suffer from the cardinal sin of over production, but here, Allain, being the schooled veteran musician and arranger that he is, understands that less is so much more.  

The opening song, ‘I Was Never Good Enough’ comes right at the listener with heavy, chunky, electric guitar swag, and a vocal that is less sing songy as it is  more mantra. When Allain says, ‘I was never good enough. I became your heavy cloud’, it’s clear that the author is fully aware of his personal foibles and shortcomings, but the fix, at the moment, Is elusive. 

‘Old House’ is classic folk in the tradition of Woody Guthrie and Tom Paxton. Purely and simply Allain sings ‘It’s been over three decades since the fire of ‘91. It got old Saint Francis on an early morning Sunday’. In just over 3 minutes, with only his signature guitar fingerpicking and storyteller voice, he equates an old church fire with a personal, scorching love affair that has burned to the ground. The listening audience is drained, left only to grieve for God, the congregation and one mortal man. 

Through his guitar, voice and songwriting, Allain has put himself under the microscope. He injects self-administered, therapeutic, analysis, as a remedy to regain his emotional health. Once a possible antidote is discovered, he finds it a difficult pill to swallow. One wonders if he can ever get that medicine down.  

‘Go to Glory’ has a vibe that is part The Band and part Dylan’s ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’, but the melody, sentiment and delivery is all Allain. When he sings, ‘Glory came calling, just outside the door. Quiet as a whisper, how I heard her I’m not sure,’ he intimates that when it’s your time, only the chosen receiver can distinguish the summon. 

In, ‘The Selfish Me’, Allain decides to slowly, methodically strip away the steel armor that protects him from the jousting and hastilude of love, but as we see here, his vulnerability may lead to a fatal strike by his paramour’s lance. As his steed races him towards the final summit on love’s battlefield, he’s fully aware that these contests seldom end in a draw. 

With the last track, ‘Bird in My Chest’, Allain attempts to make peace with himself, and the memory of a lost love that went all wrong. Although he will live on, his voice echo’s a sadness that clouds the light and joy of day - tucked away like a caged skylark, singing, but unable to fly. 

Steve Allain can be seen performing solo gigs as well a member of the duo Cardboard Ox and The Becky Chase band. For more info visit steveallain.com 

Michael Khouri is a Barrington resident writing occasionally about the Rhode Island music scene. Reach him at mkhouri@cox.net.