Collaboration is just being neighborly

By Meredith Deliso

If it weren’t for them living in the same neighborhood, Alison Lefevre and Randy Bergida might never have teamed up.

When they began their music collaboration a few months ago, the songwriters realized they both lived in Greenpoint, only a few short blocks from each other.

“It’s so hard in New York to get together with musicians when you live far away from each other,” says Lefevre, who saw Bergida play a solo show at Cafe Vivaldi in the West Village and the two connected from there. “Knowing that we lived so close made it easy to work together.”

Lefevre has recently moved to Williamsburg, though luckily that’s still within walking distance from Bergida, as the two work on an album together and prepare for a gig July 25 at Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg.

Writing about matters of the heart in lush acoustic melodies, the two have found their recent collaboration as effortless as their dreamy, orchestral sound.

“I was used and am used to doing my own thing,” says Lefevre, a Louisiana native who has made a name for herself in New York as a jazz vocalist. “But it seems like it’s so easy to work with Randy so far. Our styles really coincide.”

Bergida, who’s also the lead singer of the indie rock band Skidmore Fountain and also has a solo thing going on, enjoys the harmonical possibilities of their two voices.

“I don’t want to say unique, but we both have distinguishable voices,” says Bergida, who provides his more dominant, fluid tenor, while Lefevre adds a light, lovely layer. “Some people it doesn’t gel – we gel and play music together effortlessly. She brings that element that would otherwise be missing.”

Due to the nascent nature of their collaboration, the two only have a few songs to share (including bittersweet tunes like “Don’t Walk Away,” “Firebug” and “All the Unexpected”). So they’ll be pulling from their solo work, including Lefevre’s recently released EP “Wide Awake,” and Bergida’s own solo album that he’s looking to release at the end of this year.

“I feel like his music is very strong melodically, and so is mine,” says Lefevre. “When we get together nothing’s forced. Everything seems to have fallen into place in the beginning.”

Here’s hoping the two never leave North Brooklyn.

Randy Bergida and Alison Lefevre play Pete’s Candy Store (709 Lorimer St.) on July 25. at 9 p.m. For more information, call 718-302-3770.