Alright Alright is a husband-and-wife duo comprised of Seth and China Kent. Based out of Denver, the couple’s latest album, Crucible (out 23 October), is folk at its most free-flowing. More musically broad than inward-looking, the Kents explore tones and accompaniments throughout these compositions that make for a fresh and genuine listening experience. “Don’t Worry” is a tonal, piano-centric arrangement that incorporates moody synths to set the mood. Alright Alright’s emotion is palpable as they navigate the brooding number, which they discuss further with PopMatters.
China says, “This song was one of those rare and gorgeous songwriting moments that make us artists want to keep going. I don’t remember if I had been asleep or if I couldn’t sleep, but either way, I came downstairs to the piano after the household was abed. I had a sliver of an idea in my head, ‘In the middle of the night, in the middle of a dream, you came to me’—and I knew that I had to push through and find the rest of the song right then and there.”
“As I sat there at the piano, I started imagining an experience where someone I desperately needed to be present with me came to my bedside and told me that I was actually doing alright, doing ok. That summer, our dear neighbor had passed away, leaving two teenage daughters. The eldest of the daughters, who had been our go-to babysitter for years, would be starting college that Fall, a cruel reality, it seemed to me. And then the tears started. I sat there ugly crying at the piano, teasing out this song that ended up sounding more like a pop song than the art piece it is now. In the studio, Ben [Wysocki, producer] wasn’t happy with the pop-song production, so we played around with structure and a piano part, and came up with this gentle emotive G minor piano accompaniment, and the song found its true setting.”
Seth adds, “This song becomes more and more needed, it seems. Even for us. Beginning life as a sort of prayer for friend who lost their mother to a lifelong disease, it has morphed as we have lived life with it, becoming an ode to us and those around us as political strife ebbed and flowed, and a new prayer in a global pandemic, and most recently and personally for us after a close friend took their own life. The world can be a sad and harsh and lonely place and we need to all recall we are in it together and here for each other.”