Alice Offley’s latest single transforms a series of bad experiences into a catchy summer shakedown
Alice Offley ‘ Don’t You Mess With Me
Exciting times are ahead for singer and bassist Alice Offley. In between stints playing with one of the original 80’s synth pop luminaries – Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey – and releasing little funk-pop nuggets that get your feet moving and put a smile on your face, she has been pulling together tracks for her self-produced debut album “Are You Dealing With A Snake?” due out soon.
Add to that a support slot on the forthcoming UK tour of another ’80s face and new music champion, BBC6 Music’s Tom Robinson – and it’s all “2-4-6-8 Motorway” for the rest of the summer, and you can positively hear her purring like the cat that got the cream!
And to put us in the mood for what’s to come, she has just released the second track to feature on her debut album. “Don’t You Mess With Me” is a kiss with a fist track, sending out a warning to a recent scammer that “Karma will come to disarm ya”.
Like the majority of Offley’s tracks, it’s frisky and fun! A soulful blend of Syreeta’s ‘Your Lips Are Sweet’ and John McCrae’s ‘Rock Your Baby,’ with a hint of George Michael’s ‘Faith’ era, gives the track its essence. In the accompanying video, she swings and sways in a monochrome dress and a pillbox veiled hat against a red background, looking every bit the party starter, but with a fiery streak: “I might seem sweet like candy/But don’t be deceived, I can be handy.” Obviously not just referring to her bass playing prowess!
“I personally think ‘Don’t You Mess With Me’ is my best song yet, and although it was born from a succession of bad experiences I had with some rather S***, unscrupulous people, I’m grateful I was able to create something positive from it.” [Alice Offley]
All the elements of Offley’s style are here: a tropical funky groove, sassy vocals and sleazy bass. There is also some layering of the vocals – spoken mixed with sung – which gives the added effect that she is speaking directly to the swindlers, reprimanding them for their actions: “I don’t know how you sleep at night/Maybe you’re up? Maybe you’re down?/Counting the pounds you stole and the apologies that you owe.”
Clearly, Offley is reeling from her recent experiences and has a lot to vent, but such is her disposition and PMA that by channelling these into a song, she has applied her natural feel-good filter to it, so she can dance her cares away.
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Words by Andrew Gutteridge
