Dear Disaster
The Criminal Kid
March 2022
Dear Disaster is an alt-rock album written by Allysia Van Betuw under the moniker The Criminal Kid, released in March 2022. The eleven tracks on the album are highly personal and detail the beginning and ending of Allysia’s marriage. The emotive range of Dear Disaster is very dynamic, from aggression in Natural Feelings, to rock-bottom despair in Black Water, to the pop-inspired optimism in All Your Words, and many shades in between. Each track on the album features Allysia’s lyrics and expressive vocals, which bring to mind artists like Fiona Apple and Alanis Morrissette. The dark, organic instrumentation and focus on mood and musicality is reminiscent of projects like A Perfect Circle. As Allysia is a pianist and teacher, piano runs through the entire album as a connective thread, softening the harder edges of the album and adding a unique, emotive mood to the rock album. Acoustic drums, also used on each track of the album, help bring the songs to life, along with soothing moments of acoustic guitar, and edgier, angstier moments of electric guitar. Dear Disaster spans the full spectrum of love and loss, but even in its darkest moments (of which there are many), it is always moving on and onward.
