Dot Allison

Dot Allison (born Dorothy Elliot Allison, 17 August 1969, Edinburgh, Scotland)^[1] is a Scottish singer and songwriter, who has made significant inroads in electronic music circles, most notably as a result of her tenure fronting the band One Dove in the early 1990s. She is married to the film composer Christian Henson and they live in Edinburgh.

Career

In addition to solo ventures, Allison's career has concentrated on collaborative efforts, and has seen her work beside Scott Walker, Massive Attack, Paul Weller, Hal David, Arab Strap, Mick Harvey, Pascal Gabriel, Kevin Shields, Pete Doherty, Xenomania and Gary Mounfield.

Allison released her debut album, Afterglow, in 1999 to generally positive reviews. A song-oriented pop outing, it was followed by the electro and house music inspired We Are Science in 2002. In 2007, she released Exaltation of Larks. Allison's touring group includes members of The Fall, Tindersticks, The Bad Seeds, Massive Attack, and Tokyo Windbag. Stylistically, her music has been described as "trip-pop", and owes a great deal to British electronic music of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Allison released Room Seven And A Half in September 2009. It featured a guest appearance by Pete Doherty on the songs "I Wanna Break Your Heart" and "Portrait Of The Sun", which he co-wrote. Paul Weller also appeared on "Love's Got Me Crazy".

She contributed vocals to the track "Without Discord" on the soundtrack to the Channel 4 series Henry 8th: The Mind of a Tyrant, written by Philip Sheppard. Allison was the vocal soloist on the film Triangle, directed by Chris Smith. It opened Frightfest at The London Film Festival in 2009. Allison was also the vocal soloist in the film Black Death, starring Sean Bean, released in May 2010. Allison is the vocal soloist in the film The Devil's Double starring Dominic Cooper, which was due for release in 2011. Part of Allison's recording of "Message Personnel", a single taken from the Afterglow album, was used in the fourth episode of the sixth series of the sitcom Ideal. Most recently, Allison wrote the track "Ember", which featured in November 2012 in episode 7 of Channel 4's Fresh Meat alongside Graham Coxon's "Implodium Implodes".

Discography

With One Dove

• Morning Dove White (1993)

Solo

Albums

• Afterglow (1999)
• We Are Science (2002) produced by Dot Allison, Keith Tenniswood and Dave Fridman
• Acoustic (2003). Limited release of 200 copies, distributed at Massive Attack gigs in 2003.^[2]
• Beneath the Ivy (2006) 3-song EP produced by Tim Simenon
• Exaltation of Larks (2007) produced by Kramer
• Room 7½ (2009) - Produced By Rob Ellis and Dot Allison
• Acoustic 2 (2009) Limited released, only available at Dot Allison shows.
• Pioneers 1 - Dot Allison" (2012) The first of a collection of the "Pioneers" series on Imagem for Boosey & Hawkes.

Remixes albums

• Saint Etienne - How We Used To Live (2000)
• Ruby - Beefheart (2001)

EPs albums

• Strung Out (2002)
• Sampler (2002)
• Beneath the Ivy (2006)
• Cry (2010)

Featured albums

• "Triangle (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" Composed by Christian Henson (2009)
• "Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant (Soundtrack from the TV Series) [feat. Alamire, Fretwork & Dot Allison]", album by Philip Sheppard (2009)
• "Soused" * A collaborative album between experimental metal band Sunn O))) and singer Scott Walker (2014)

Singles

• "Tomorrow Never Comes" / "I Wanna Feel The Chill" (1999)
• "Mo' Pop" (1999) UK #81^[3]
• "Colour Me" (1999)
• "Message Personnel" (1999)
• "Close Your Eyes" (1999)
• "Substance" (2002) #79
• "Strung Out" (2002) #67^[4]
• "Visions" (Slam featuring Dot Allison) #93

Featured artist and songwriting

• "Sweet Surrender" from the album "Sing a Song for You - A Tribute to Tim Buckley" written by Tim Buckley (2000)
• "Aftersun" Co-written with Massive Attack on their Score for the film Unleashed aka Danny The Dog feat. Dot Allison
• "Dirge" Co-written by and featuring Dot Allison - Death in Vegas' album The Contino Sessions (1999)
• "Diving Horses" Co-written by and featuring Dot Allison from Death in Vegas' album Scorpio Rising (2002)
• "Visions" Co-written with Slam on album Alien Radio (2002)
• "Kill The Pain" Co-written with Slam on album Year Zero (2005)
• "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Your Grievances" Written By Daniel Johnston and performed by Dot Allison in album "I Killed the Monster" (2005)
• "We Medicate" Co-written with Slam on Album Human Response (2007)
• "Sell Me Back My Soul" Co-written with King of Woolworths Album Illustration Musicale
• "Nothing at All" by Radioactive Man, featuring Dot Allison on vocals (2008)
• "Sheepskin Tearaway" a duet written with Pete Doherty (2009)
• "Love's Got Me Crazy" written by Dot Allison and Paul Weller (2009)
• "Call Of The Wild" For Florrie. Written by Dot Allison, Brian Higgins & Xenomania
• "Heart-Shaped Tears" Written by Dot Allison & Paul Statham for the album "Dark Flowers" due (2012).
• "Escapology" Written by Dot Allison & Darren Emerson of Underworld in album "Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy (Original Soundtrack to the Motion Picture)"(2012)
• "Bull" by Scott Walker + Sunn O))), featuring Dot Allison on backing vocals. From the album Soused (2014)

References

External links

• Official website
• Exaltation Of Larks
• Official Fansite
• Discussion Forum
• Interview by Alexander Laurence