New Music Friday #6: Anohni is no stranger to change

and change, it must.

Readers, what would you like to see? Any suggestions?

I had this idea involving creative prompts and my own responses to them (songs, poems, bits of artwork, etc). I could start putting them here, too?

I’m gonna level with you - I wrote about hope in the last New Music Friday, but these past few weeks, I’ve had absolutely none. Apart from rehearsals, gigs and little moments of joy, I’ve felt so low. I’m trying to remember what I have and practice gratitude.

But this time, I’ve sat with and listened to my anger instead of denying it. As I move further and further from seeing the world in black and white, good vs bad etc, I’m trying to give anger a place. I used to think anger hides grief…now, I wonder if anger tells us something? Is it a driving force, making us act? Is it honest?

I will still try and give you hope in the form of my wonderful, eco-conscious friends - one friend and artist, Ailsa Tully, is learning about growing biodiverse gardens. You can find ideas for climate action in her stories.

Another friend works as an eco-conservationist, and I said to her this week, “you are wading through a river of people’s shit” when she wondered why she felt so down, and I had to check myself as I realised that wasn’t a metaphor.

Many more friends are starting to really do things instead of succumbing to despair. I hope to follow them.

We took Darina the camera superstar down south to the coast:

and sat in some lavender, even though Jack had stomach flu. What a trouper (and pooper…I should probably take that joke out, yolo)

At The Great Escape, we played a new venue in Brighton, the freshly painted, mauve ‘Alphabet’. It was only three days old at the time, and is going to be a ‘listening pub’ (venues with quality audio equipment that play vinyl - a phenomenon that first sprung up in Japan back in the 50s).

Photo by Robin - Breaking Waves

Paris Paloma’s wonderful live video came out for ‘Labour’, in which I sang with LCV:

Edith Bowman played Another Sky’s Psychopath on Radio 2, stepping in for Jo Whiley. You can listen back here.

And now, for the sweet sound of new music. Music isn’t garnering loads of coverage right now - music journalism and the general industry is in a serious state of flux, and, well…everything’s on fire, isn’t it? I hope artists and writers know they are all still extremely talented, despite what’s happening.

Well, I’m still here, writing my stupid blog at the end of the world - here you go:

ANOHNI and the Johnsons - It Must Change

Track: soul / experimental / art pop

I love that Anohni disappears for years on end to then only release the highest calibre of music. This constantly evolving artist is no stranger to change - she came out as trans slowly, incrementally, and only signed press releases in her name when she took a break from her band, The Johnsons (named after the legendary Martha P Johnson in the cover art). Anohni actually met Martha P Johnson once in 1992, and kissed her hand before she passed. It’s refreshing to hear change meet familiarity - she’s back with her former band, their arrangement and performance inspired by Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’. Model and Activist Munroe Bergdorf acts as narrator in the music video, mouthing the words Anohni only felt comfortable singing into a studio microphone. After a lifetime of being uncomfortably seen and scrutinised, why not pick your favourite people to act for you? The thing I love most about Anohni’s music is that nothing is ever censored, no stone is left unturned - thoughts we shouldn’t be able to hear freely float over the music like a gift, interspersed with the mantra, ‘it must change’. It’s a monologue in music form.

“We're not getting out of here
That's why this is so sad
No one's getting out of here
That's why this is so sad”

Lyrically, I’m glad she hasn’t changed much from her solo debut album, 'Hopelessness’. The best artists, I think, reconnect us with the radical honesty we had in childhood. She used lyrics such as “like children, we believed” (from her song, ‘Obama’) and “how did I become a virus?” (from the titular ‘Hopelessness’) to convey something so difficult and exposing, the thoughts that hide, largely unsaid and socially unacceptable, in all of us. I also think the best artists say what we can’t, and speak for us from platforms they often fight tooth and nail for, knowing full well their pedestals can erupt and crumble at any moment. Anohni is, above all else, refreshingly honest, despite years of fame. Her honesty is a gift, one she knows will largely be unrewarded, and has acknowledged in the title of her sixth studio album, ‘My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross’. She knows it’s important to speak anyway.

Uma - Filthy Rich

EP: jazz / folk / electronic

A nylon guitar underpins these tasteful, bossa nova inspired arrangements, proving to be the perfect bed for supporting a clear, albeit whispering vocal, sarcastically spilling secrets and swear-words alike. Oxymorons are the glue of this EP - I love how “fuck bitches, get money” is sung so sweetly. Uma knows full well the style and words interplay as a paradox. The entire EP was produced in her and Lucy Lu’s self-made studio in Barcelona. She grew up going to festivals in Spain with her performance artist mother, as well as watching her father work for non-profit hospices and orphanages in Bangkok. Setting up a "Can Obert" residency in their studio, taking the idea from her mother’s open-house policy she experienced through childhood, she created over twenty songs in a week with other songwriters attending, such as Nilüfer Yanya and Max Pope. Her EP “is the product of frustration and sadness, feeling helpless in a crumbling world.”.

“We gave you earth
You gave us pennies
We gave you worth
You made it deadly”

Chartreuse - Switch It On, Switch It Off

Track: dark-pop / alternative / folk-rock

Birmingham-based Chartreuse were heralded by Puma Blue when they first emerged, and have since collaborated with Orlando Weeks. The distinctive voice of Harriet Wilson is faintly reminiscent of Thom Yorke, Damon Albarn and King Krule, but remains uniquely tethered to Middle England. I can even picture the tree featured in the lyrics; “two magpies rip the tree apart, they spot a poor wood pigeon with a stupid look, surround him like a pack of dogs”. The lyrics often embody a feeling only found in the midlands, a spiral where no road leads out, where the only thing to do is to swirl and surround things in packs, forming groups to pick on each other out of boredom. I haven’t heard another band or artist capture the beauty in the mundanity there so perfectly; most musicians opt for folk escapism instead, or move to London and lose the plot completely…(cough, me). Rory and Michael are brothers, Harriet and Perry are childhood friends and the project did actually start out as a folk project. I love this band so much. It’s great to hear them continue with their unique sound.

Lava La Rue - Renegade

Track: alternative / indie / rock

Look at this artwork?! Lava La Rue is someone who lives out their wildest dreams with no compromise or apology. Partner of Rhian Teasdale from Wet Leg, Lava La Rue founded Nine8 (named after the year Laurel and Smyth were born) a DIY music and art collective featuring Biig Piig, Lorenzosv, Mac Wetha, Nayana IZ, Bone Slim, Libaan and Nige. Now championed by BBC Radio 6, Lava uses big, big choruses and a huge brass section to create a rock supernova. They are also an accomplished video director - this video is, in fact, DIY (despite the tiktok backlash). Lava’s first US performance was Coachella, and Lava directed Wet Leg’s Brit Award performance, ‘Chaise Longue’, as well as recently signing to ‘Dirty Hit’. The song encapsulates the feeling of infatuation. Speaking on the track, Lava told rocknload mag, “the song was made out of a jam in LA with my friend APOB – I knew I wanted a big glam guitar solo in it so I called up Stolen Nova (Josh Landau) who I’d met at a house party the previous week, as I knew he had the minerals.” Lava works ridiculously hard, and it’s great to see it pay off!