Alli Millstein

I’ve been away for a week knocking the new hugger residence into shape. Oh what lovely biceps I’ve developed but my ears are so destitute I almost feel like putting them into care. The return needed to be special and wouldn’t you know it the first email I open from the unread tsunami managed to steal my heart. Quite by accident the song is called ‘Mend My Heart’ and despite fluttering for less than 2 minutes it is a magical encounter. It’s taken from Alli Millstein’s beguiling debut EP ‘Human Nature’. This is passive music designed to sink in despite you even knowing, after a bit you realise you are sold and then begin the slow anxious wait for Alli’s next release. A genuine raw talent. KD

- MP3 Hugger

Sometimes it seems as if the laid-back, folk singing, soothing sounds of an alternative artist are over-hyped in today's society, but after attending sophomore Alli Millstein's performance, I quickly realized that this is by no means the case. Bringing originality and a personal touch to her concert, Millstein sang and played accompaniment on guitar to various poetic, lyrical songs on Thursday, April 17, at the Underground. With her infectious smile and soothing voice, it's no wonder Millstein attracted a steady stream of listeners at her performance.

Halfway through the second song, the lights in the Underground were dimmed and the spotlight was on Millstein. Accompanied by her guitar teacher, Dave Giardina, Millstein provided solace for listeners with songs about love, heartbreak, and the general emotions many feel but few can express eloquently.

During her fourth song, my eyes wandered from Millstein to the audience. As Millstein's fluid, raw voice sang her song "Our Love is Under Ground," an audience member tapped her hand on her leg along with the steady beat of the song. Clearly capturing the attention of her cozy audience in the Underground, Millstein explained how she wrote her songs and added personal anecdotes to many. Her song "Infinite," she explained, was written in her senior year of high school after watching the movie Vanilla Sky and reading the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. "So can't you see, we don't need anybody else," resonated the last line. With personal touches such as this anecdote, Millstein transformed her show into an entertaining, interesting collaboration of music and poetic lyrics that went beyond just the words she sang.

With the pacifying, calming tone of her melodies and understated guitar accompaniment, Millstein sang lyrics that not only had a personal touch but were well-crafted poems and beautiful songs. "I knew from the start that your heart was printed with ivory and gold. Why would I think that our love would ever grow old?" was part of her song "Space Ship," which Millstein sang with a painstakingly heartfelt voice and minimal guitar accompaniment. Another of her songs, "Make It Count," had the lyrics, "And I promise I'll bring something new to inspire the poet in you," adding a longing and heartfelt tone to the song.

I spoke to Millstein before the performance, and as she sat with her guitar in her lap facing the growing audience, she told me that her goal of the evening was "getting used to playing live and getting better at it." This summer, Millstein will reside in New York, where she hopes to perform.

As the show's momentum rose and she played her songs, her eyebrows furrowed in emotion and her voice adopted a raw, gorgeous quality that showed how much of herself Millstein had invested into these songs. Perhaps it is seeing someone care so much about what they do, or show such love for something like playing songs for fellow classmates, but performances with a passion such as this are hard to quickly forget - or forget at all.

If you would like to hear more of Millstein's original music, visit her Myspace Web site, located at www.myspace.com/allimillstein. - Trinity Tripod

4. Alli Millstein. "Mend My Heart" is the song that had played before Ingrid Michaelson's You and I, and is the song that Sweetie thought was the same song, even though the two songs are not very much similar. You have to forgive Sweetie; her last three musical purchases were "Live Through This" by Hole, because she thought it played over the credits of the horrible movie Jennifer's Body, then Doll Parts, by Hole, because she thought that was the actual song that played over the credits, and then Cruel To Be Kind, by Nik Kershaw. Sweetie does not have good taste in music.

(Whereas my last three purchases included What Would Brian Boitano Do? From South Park, so clearly I do have good taste in music.)

Alli Millstein is on my Quirky Chicks playlist by virtue of that mix-up. Listening to her music (which you can do on her MySpace page, since she doesn't have any videos on Youtube yet), you'll note the absolute lack of weird sound effects, unusual instruments, stories about people who are enraged with love, or anything else that would mark her as quirky.

But she has quirk potential, as she has a song called Skeletons (as does Kate Nash, making skeletons a de riguer stopping point on the Road to Quirksville) and she describes her music as "

The moments between sleep and awake.



On her Myspace page, and also she's from Brooklyn. Brooklyn is quirky, isn't it? Or it was. Or should be. Wasn't Brooklyn the home of Welcome Back, Kotter?

You know what borough is underrepresented in pop culture? Staten Island. There's the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn... and Staten Island. All the others have their pop culture moments and signifiers: The King of Queens, the Bronx Bombers, Alli Millstein & the Sweathogs and the Tree that Grows in Brooklyn. But Staten Island... has there ever been any significant piece of music, film, art, literature, or cookery that celebrated, or was set in, Staten Island?

I can't think of any, and if I don't know about something, it doesn't exist. So you writers, singers, painters, and cooks: Get going with your Staten Island stuff.

Representative Song: As I said, you can't get an Alli Millstein video on Youtube, making her sort of the Staten Island of Quirky Chicks. But I'll pick out her song Skeletons, as the quirkiest of the bunch. It features a cello and a moog, and that's pretty out-there for music. Plus, again, it's about skeletons. Hear it here.

Where You Might Have Heard Her Music: Connecticut. She's playing open mic gigs in Connecticut, which is the Staten Island of states.

What's The Weirdest Thing She's Done? She's friends on MySpace with some guy who goes by the name of "Meepy Meep."
- The Best Of Everything

Alli Millstien's way of doing her song's is unrelenting. She fired into her performance with calm quiet self assured abandon. Sort of like bungie jumping. The sound was folksy and her voice was pleasant... Well written songs... but her earnestness and clarity of purpose was what inspired me. Alli is on a path. She has a plan. Systematically and with the most efficient use of resources. And by the way she's just gosh so nice. But don't let her girl next door package fool you...She is a woman with a goal. Alli Millstien's got the future of music networking understood stone cold and she's got nice pleasant songs to move you with. - Nick Noir

If delicate and searching folk warms your heart, but you want something more compelling than the usual singer/songwriter fare, take the time to check out Connecticut's Alli Millstein. At only 21, she has already sailed well past affectation towards the deeper waters of song craft and poetry.

It's Millstein's attention to detail that truly sets her apart. Her tune "Skeletons" in particular, with its bendy drones and bursts of buzz, or the touch of slide on "Our Love is Underground", signal that she knows what's up. And it seems that she is destined to soon deliver the kind of intensity that Ellen McIlwaine poured from her soul over thirty years ago. For now, think of Alli Millstein as the little wooden match that's about to light a bonfire. Stick around and watch her grow. - CT Indie