ALO is not a band that dwells in the past. They are always moving forward. Always striving to discover new ideas. Always looking to go on new adventures. Their latest adventure, Man of the World (to be released February 9, 2010 on Brushfire Records), finds the Cali collective flexing their considerable creative powers to craft their finest album yet. Recorded almost entirely live, the 11-song collection is the sound of four players who have truly found their groove together. This is ALO at their most natural, their most organic and their most pure. Man of the World is the next level for ALO.

For Chris Velan, arrival at the intersection of experience and opportunity occurred in the form of a phone call from two college friends who were making a documentary about a group of musicians in war-torn Sierra Leone. Although he had been a student of classical guitar from the age of nine and a veteran of the Canadian band scene, he had recently embarked towards a career as a human rights lawyer in his native Montreal. After the grind of law school and a year of life as an apprentice attorney, he made the decision that would change his course personally and professionally; he opted for the meaningful over the mundane. His subsequent experiences in Africa left an indelible mark that would govern his choices as he contemplated future life once the film project was complete.