Candice Alley’s second album Candice Alley inevitably has a feeling of restlessness throughout. Many of the songs were inspired by her travels abroad. It also reflects her search to find her own voice.

“This album is such an extension of myself that I had to call it Candice Alley,” explains the 24-year old singer songwriter. “The songs are so personal that it’s like I’m reading my diary.”

Now an independent act, Candice has become the artist that she’s always wanted to be. Candice Alley includes a number of songs she wrote for Colorblind (2004) but dropped against her wishes. Candice Alley exists in its own self-created world. Having taught herself to play guitar and piano, she broke the rules without her realising it when she began writing at 12.

She was signed to Universal Music Australia on her 18^th birthday. Her first single “Falling” went Top 5 with her debut album Colorblind going Top 20.

Candice had a definite idea on how she wanted Candice Alley to sound — guitar driven but with some left of centre moments. But she says much of the album’s creative success should be shared with producer Michael Szumowski who gave her voice a darker hue which made the songs more intimate and world weary. Candice Alley sounds both confident and mystical.

Says Michael, “This is an album of strong songs with strong melodies. There are no production tricks, just an old school way of doing the songs service. Candice writes melodies which become imbedded in your mind after three listens.”

The first single off the album “Before You Go” reached #16 (and stayed in the Top 30 for ten consecutive weeks) on the ARIA singles chart and #10 on the digital chart. The second single released off the album is “I Belong”.

Candice Alley, the album will be released through iTunes.

TRACK BY TRACK

Candice Alley

* “I Belong”

Candice: “I wrote it around the time I came up with ‘Falling’. It’s one of the most positive songs I have ever written, about letting things go.”

Michael: “It was one of the first songs we started working on. It’s got a chorus that creeps up and hits you, and I loved it straight away.”

* “Hopeless”

Candice: “About an old friend who was hopeless! She disappointed me a lot.”

Michael: “A tale of love gone wrong, and with a very strong melody.”

* Before You Go”

Candice: “I wanted to portray the feeling when you lose someone that you wish you’d said more to them before they passed on and had their wisdom. I love the use of the cello, I used to play it at school and it gives depth to the song.”

Michael: “It has a chorus which kicks. This was the blueprint for the album.”

* “Drifting”

Candice: “I wanted to write something dreamy, I was in a good place emotionally and I wanted to convey what I was feeling.”

Michael: “A dreamlike sequence which is based around the acoustic guitar riff, and which opens with a sliding guitar which sets the tone for the whole track.”

* “Every Time”

Candice: “It’s about letting go of something or somebody even if you don’t want to do it.”

Michael: “One of my favourite tracks, especially the marriage between the chorus and melody and the strings line which counters.”

* “World Keeps Turning”

Candice: “More a question than a statement, it wonders if the people you love will still be around if something goes wrong. Nevertheless, it’s a happy song.”

Michael: “A difficult birth this one. I saw it as rockier and big, she heard it as a ‘60s pop song. We went her way, and she got it right.”

* “That I Would”

Candice: “My husband (swimming champion Grant Hackett) and I wrote this together. He was in a band before he got into swimming, and I used to swim for my school before I got into music. We both like good music.”

Michael: “A straight out big and bold pop song which really works.”

* “To Find You”

Candice: “It was on my first album, but I didn’t like the way it was produced, it had its heart taken out. This one is done exactly the way it should have been.”

Michael: “A well written song, where the melody and the mood marry well.”

* “Yesterday”

Candice: “It’s a personal song and one of my favourites. No matter where you go, you always bring your past with you. It shapes your choices in life. It came to me so perfectly formed, it was like a puzzle I had to put together.”

Michael: “A really fine track, it’s very understated and not a radio track. But it has a very interesting melody. Like all of her melodies, they creep up on you.”

* Better Off”

Candice: “I wrote this three weeks before the album was finished. It’s for someone close to me, I want them to make their own choices and learn from their mistakes.”

Michael: “Melodically, this could be a cool country crossover.”