The Onion AV Pick (Washington D.C.)
Ukraine native Alina Simone had a dark side lurking in the shadows of her debut, last year’s Placelessness; and the new Everyone is Crying Out to Me, Beware, however, explores even more depressingly dark teritory. Simone isn’t about to kill herself, though — she’s just covering songs by someone who did: With her help, Russian underground icon Yanka Dyagileva is starting to get the sort of historical reconsideration Nick Drake did. In many ways, Dyagileva is the female equivalent to Drake, both unknowns in their time who trafficked in hauntingly spare arrangements and vocals — and both eventual victims of suicide. Simone is reverently respectful of Dyagileva’s work, and hearing her howl out “From Great Knowledge” is worthwhile even if just to arouse interest in the original.