Jade Alger is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His music marries poetic wordplay with classical guitar and cello.
Alger’s songs are playful and plaintive cascades of vivid images, each more striking than the next. Alger is also a painter, poet and illustrator, and his instinct for telling detail is on display in his songs as well. “Her sweaty hands touching your veins”; “comb the resin from my hair”; “the smell of leaves”; “Gold quivers, chariot winds / Guide my reins, O glade and glen.” Distance, longing, eternity itself all wrapped up in careful observation of the material world. His debut album, Unfolding the Muse (2016), explored a wide range of soundscapes while being firmly based in his signature intricate fingerstyle guitar.
Kinora (2018) expands into lusher instrumentation. “The Gyrfalcon” and “The Picturedrome” shift the focal point away from lyrics with their minimalist compositions.
Wind Under the Door (2022) is a five-song collection inspired by travels in North America. In the title track, cello carries the rhythm as drums and classical guitar weave together in an anticipation of adventure. “Buffalo Harvest” takes us along the Cheyenne River of South Dakota as “She’s a Rocket” mentions Catalina Foothills, Arizona in its curious lyricism.
Originally from Tennessee, Alger now makes his home in a small village in western Slovakia.
“Jade is one of those rare songwriters whose music leaves you feeling as though you’ve just been reminded of the very first moment you decided to devote your life to music.” – Kramer, Noise Miami