In the days before digital downloads, the collapse of independent distributor Pinnacle could have spelled disaster for an artist like Alice Russell.

Set for release last November, physical copies of her latest album Pot Of Gold actually ended up languishing in Pinnacle’s warehouse, only finally seeing the light of day earlier this month.

“It mainly affected us in the UK,” says Brighton-based Alice. “We still released the album in France and the USA, but it was a bit weird not having it out in my home town.

“It shows how everyone now has to take care of the digital end of the market and make sure everyone can download an album.”

The eventual physical release of Pot Of Gold has been accompanied by a double album of remixes, which were chosen by Alice’s fans on her website and featuring contributions from Mr Scruff, DJ Vadim, Emika and The Heavy.

The original album was recorded two years ago by Alice and her long-time collaborator and producer Alex “TM Juke” Cowan, whose integral role is underlined by his front cover credit on the album.

The pair both grew up in Suffolk, but really only met when they both moved to Brighton and did the same course at the University Of Brighton.

“We are very much a 50/50 partnership,” says Alice. “The first time we worked together was when I did something on his first album for [Brighton-based label] Tru Thoughts, and we started realising we worked pretty well together.”

For the Pot Of Gold album the pair decided to write the songs “old school”.

“Alex and I just went into the studio with a guitar and vocal and tried to go right back to basics,” says Alice.

“Other times we’ll get a beat together and I will go home and write the lyrics to it. We have got to songs in all different ways. The best is always when the song comes all at once, which is quite rare, although it has happened a few times.”

Among the highlights on Pot Of Gold is a return to one of the first songs they wrote together, Hurry On Now, as well as a cover of Gnarls Barkley’s number one hit Crazy.

“We re-did Hurry On Now because it had changed with the live band,”

says Alice. “We were pushing each other in different directions.

“When Crazy first came out I started doing it live with Ben Jones on piano – we slowed it right down and gospelled it up a bit, so it was all about the words. We’d like to do a collaborative album with the whole band in the future.

“It would have been better to have called Pot Of Gold a sessions album, because we recorded everyone in the same room – it was like a live session.”

Although the last year has been spent mostly on the road, the pair are looking forward to working together on Alice’s next album at the beginning of 2010, and finishing off another project.

“We’ve been working on an electro-soul album,” says Alice. “There were a lot of songs that were more aggressive and punky that didn’t fit well with the Pot Of Gold album.

“It would be nice to release it as an offshoot album under another name. When people get used to one sound they find it confusing when you chop and change as an artist.”

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