Alt tragic Americana, invocations for peace and judgment bending, with bleeding heart stream of consciousness poems. Anna’s music is about memory and meditation; streaked with tones of jazz, along with fresh interpretations of classic folk music, all while honoring a hope to enhance connection, humility, and joy among more and more humans.

We spoke with Anna about new music, peace, love, justice, and current events. Read the full interview below.

How did you first get into making music and what prompted you to pursue it more seriously?
I began making music out of a real emotional necessity ..

As a child, I was often creating a story, or a piece of art, and was very interested in observing, or in immersing myself in my inner world.
I felt a unique challenge in being a young creative and in the difficulty of doing something that was a bit different from what others around me were doing. Your process of growth can look different, from a creative perspective. For a long time, that difference can feel uncomfortable until you meet others who share your pace or your process.
I was fortunate in that I grew up in very loving environments where I was encouraged to dedicate time to making music, art and poems. My parents always gave me the time to do all of those things.

I remember long summer days, where I was forced to turn to my creative mind, or urged to figure out a melody on piano, write about the flowers outside the window, or about a memory, or about someone, or about a dream.

I did lots of dance and writing as a child, and was very much in a habit of responding to my experiences. Making music requires a great deal of peace and space, and I’ve made an effort to carve that into my daily routine.

I was influenced by so much wonderful music in my household, and was taught primarily by listening to an array of talented folks, spanning world music, jazz, alternative country, and really everything in between. When it came to making music, I was led by my background as a piano player, and by a background in playing classical music.

I would say that, desire to create my own music initially stemmed from whatever dissatisfaction I may have been feeling, either at school, or socially, and gradually morphed into reflections of more complex emotions. I remember from a young age, feeling that, if I needed to write something, that I needed to pull myself away from a group or environment that I was in. I was always singing or writing songs during math class, and things like that.

It can be overwhelming to exist on a creative plane and to have all of this other stuff thrown at you, like algebra and physics. I felt, most of the time, that I wanted to be writing, or drawing, or singing, and neglected anything that wasn’t really, that.
Songwriting is the perfect relief for whatever difficult emotions may arise, or for anything in one’s life that deserves some space.

There is so much happening in life that is unheard .. I write with an intention to bring people into deeper connection with each other and with the stuff that we might be missing.

Being a songwriter can be daunting because I often feel a subtle duty to communicate what I see. Failing to do so leads to artistic dissatisfaction, and doing so can mean, removing oneself from the typical flow or order of life, in order to interpret with a clear and unbiased eye.

Music has always seemed like a very natural and emotional response .. I never really had an intention to pursue music more seriously. I had always imagined that I would be a writer, but musical opportunities that felt good continued to come to me.
I eventually realized that music was one of the most satisfying, present, and honest of things that I could be doing. Out of any art form that I’ve explored, music has seemed to put me in the best touch with myself. I would never give up this special way of being.

Seeing that people responded to my songs and enjoyed them was both surprising and beautiful to me, and very much led me to pursue music more seriously. With the more that
I did musically, and the more that I played, i felt that I was becoming a well rounded artist, and even, a better version of myself. The purpose of writing music changed from a internal processing tool, to something that others were enjoying and responding to.

I feel as if I lost time with music at certain points during my life, and am eager to be totally immersed in music now. After loads of travel and experience in my early twenties, I felt ready to dig in & to really account for all that I had seen and felt.
Music can be very lofty and nearly unattainable sometimes, and it can be difficult, but, to be sitting right in the middle of a really hallowed force of tradition and culture, such as music, is a great gift that urges me to be my absolute best.

What inspires to create and write songs? 
I am very much inspired by all of the distinct energies and gifts that I witness in others ..
I feel that we can always encounter seeds of ourselves in other people; that feels like the basis of true connection. In this process, we can grow in compassion and understanding, and sometimes, those special intersections between people can come into being in song.

I am drawn to the zeal and tenacity of individuals. In songs of mine like, Acadia, which was written at the Standing Rock Reservation during pipeline protests,
I strive to focus on the impressions of individual people that happen inside of a wider, collective experience.

I’ve felt influenced by many sources, and always by art ..
I especially love artists like Caravaggio, and Chagall, as well as Pieter Bruegel the Elder, who expertly reflects individual accounts within a wider whole. I liken my songs to paintings often, because I hope always, to narrow in, towards the smaller, yet very significant perspectives of something that is more expansive, or historical.

In Acadia, I sought to tune out the overwhelming clamor of the surrounding protest scene, in order to focus on the experience of a young girl who experienced living amidst protest.
The song seeks to capture a moment during this time of oppression, and a large scale fight for rights, but is meant to shed light on the quiet and forming mind of a girl who finds herself in this place of uncertainty and outrage, that only comes to a temporary peace at nighttime.

As much as I have always loved to learn about people and write about them, I am also quite influenced by the natural world. I was fortunate to grow up with plentiful inspirations; beaches, mountains, and breathtaking scenery. I sought out those types of settings as a teenager, and sought to learn from their freedom. Getting to a place that was quiet and that was very much .. away, felt important to me, as a budding person.

When I witness my life now, I try to remember those intentional times of abandonment and seeking, and i am grateful that they are part of my memory and experience, always.
They feel commonplace to me.

I am no stranger to this new Thoreauian way of being, brought on by the pandemic.
It feels familiar and comfortable. These are the moments where we can become creators and innovators.

I am also very inspired by my dreams, and always have been. I have dream logs dating back to when I was a teenager, and I often pull from those for song ideas. Dream writing is a very meticulous art, that I am not always disciplined at. I’ve noticed that dreams give us special allowance for incorporating surrealism into our work, lending a brand new sense of imagery, and some unexpected metaphors.

When I look to many of my songs that contain elements of surrealism, especially songs on my flimsy distribe album, I see that much of those lyrics have come from fragments of my dreams.

I am the best songwriter that I can be, I believe, when events in my life push me into a space that is so uncomfortable, and with realities and consequences that are so unavoidable, that I have no choice but to write something that is powerful and visceral.

The creative world is what is happening in the wings of life ..
It always exists, but it is very much subtext, or a backdrop to our lives. We need people to do the documenting and interpreting ..

Many or most of my songs are about people that I miss, or who left my life, too soon. They are all that I have for coming close to energy that once filled my heart. My songs are often about returning to something that is spiritual, or, seeing the spiritual awakenings in every day life.

A new desire in terms of creating music has been, to confront the incredible sexism that exists in the music industry, that myself and many others have experienced firsthand as independent female artists. Sexism continues to obscure genuine female voices, and I am at a loss as to how that can change in the confines of an industry that is so dominated by a specific male perspective, that makes selections based on marketability and an adherence to calculated standards.

There is still a shocking prevalence about the fencing in of female artists, so that they might best satisfy certain obsolete norms. For women who are subjected to these archaic paradigms, the rules seem to state that you can be a sex symbol, or you can be a beautiful lyricist, but you can only do those things in a very specific way, in order to be accepted by a targeted male audience.

I have felt these pressures continuously throughout my life, and have defied them at every turn. Luckily, women have wonderful leaders to look to, like Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, Tracy Chapman, Natalie Merchant, and so many other artists who defy the moulds, rather than succumbing to them. What I would hope that female artists would learn from a career in music is that, there are ten million different ways to be beautiful, sexy, or insightful, but our current male – based structure does not totally reflect that.

As a woman, we sometimes find ourselves in a homogeneous sea that is in many ways, designed to suppress a unique female voice. It is astonishing to me that we can actually live in a world where men are permitted to tell women how to be women.

For a long time, as a woman in the music industry, I was striving to reflect what was not me at all, and I don’t believe, through any fault of my own .. eventually I realized that, exactly what I was doing is everything that I need to be doing. As a culture, we could do so much better at understanding and contextualizing sexism.

The intention of music is to reflect one’s own perspective. We live in a world that is plagued by racism, sexism and so many other detriments that exist due to tradition and routine. It is time to change.

I intend for my music to reflect little pieces of my personal struggles, and pieces that belong to others, as well.

I do not want to wake up each day in a world where people are stripped of their rights. This has become habitual, but should not become, in any way, acceptable.
Confronting social justice through the lens of personal experience is my ultimate future goal, because those are the most pressing issues at this moment. There are many changes to be made, and music is always a refuge where change can begin.

What’s the typical songwriting process like for you?
The world of writing opens me up to new energy, new mysteries and new possibilities that I might not have been aware of, previously.

My songwriting process always looks a bit different .. Some songs come very languidly and easily, at the right time, and for others, I’ve had to pull off to the side of the road & be late for a meeting, in order to get them down. Sometimes, I’ll need to jump out of the shower to write songs down. Songs are notorious for their bad timing ..
I’ve even had to leave a wedding for the sake of writing a song that felt too special to be ignored. You have to really give yourself over to the process, completely, if it feels like something that is worth following through. I’ve learned to be a quiet listener, and to hear all that is being said to me, or asked of me.

Songs are subtle, and sometimes easily missed, almost, gliding on their own plane of energy.

I’ve become more skillful over time, at making space for capturing and harnessing valuable moments of creativity, but still, some really sweet pieces of lyrics do get lost sometimes. Our brains are sometimes out of step with our spirituality. This time in quarantine has been a creative blessing in that there is so much more space that is open to me, and I am moving in a more creative way than I was a few months ago.

Sometimes a song will come in full in the matter of five minutes or so, and other times, it will spread itself out, over the course of days or weeks. Not all songs turn out wonderfully, but the process and exercise of writing them is so important and rewarding, regardless. I usually like to find a very quiet place for writing, or else I will write during some form of movement, like walking or swimming. Water always feeds my senses & allows songs to really flourish and expand. It is nice to let your environment come into your song.

I feel that for me, there are two songwriting styles that typically happen :
The first is, a very spiritually infused, stream of consciousness, where I feel that I have very little control over what comes, and I do not know where the words are coming from, necessarily.

One of my favorite songs that I’ve written, called Flimsy Diatribe, came in this way. It is the title track from my last EP. It is fun to perform songs and remember how they came to us in the first place. Upon tracing backwards, we can see that songs are, a mixture of our life experiences, our immediate emotions, and our subconscious.

For other songs, I may begin with a lyric or two, and then, there is this ensuing job of shaping something that is very loose, into a song. This is where the crafter, writer, and perfectionist, come in.

I appreciate both styles of writing for different reasons, but have to say that it is very cool when songs trickle out of you almost immediately, and when there is close to no writing process. Songs can come like freight trains, and out of nowhere, when the accumulation of your memories and experience finally have something that they need to say. Music and lyrics exist separately in my mind, and each part is held by a different process. Musically, I gravitate towards intensely melodic progressions. I have always loved music from the 50s & 60s, and draw melody inspiration from Beatles, Kinks, or wall of sound inspired songs. I also love artists & bands like David Byrne, David Bowie, Queen, and most other boundary pushing artists. Funky and folky.

I am very fastidious about it .. songwriting has trained me at having a good memory. Remembering is vital when making songs; we have to hang on to things that we may rather let go. We have a duty to be honest examiners of the past, while writing in the present.

Songwriting is a discipline that teaches us focus, and how to better strip away distractions, so that we may line up all of the details in the perfect way. A fun way to write songs is to choose new locations for writing; helps to inspire .. maybe, taking a walk, having some ice cream, too ..

We loved your recent project ‘I’m still thinking of you.’ How did the project come about? What do you hope listeners take away from it?
Thank you!

This was a project that I completed a few years ago, and just released in March. I actually never intended to release this music, as I was very critical of it, and did not love it enough to put it out there. I basically scrapped it, & moved on to work on a new album, & so this music has been sitting inside of my computer for years. During the quarantine, with so much time at my disposal, I decided to revisit these songs. I listened again, and decided that they did deserve to be part of my official discography, however imperfect, or naive they felt to me.

Most of this album was recorded on ukulele, so, this music has a distinctly whimsical and light flavor, although it is still lyrically dense. It has been a surprise to me that people have enjoyed these songs .. something that I noticed in revisiting this album was that, both my writing style & vocal style are slightly different from a few years ago than they are now.
My lyrics almost have a less personal feel, and a more global or literary resonance than they have had in the last few recordings. Everything is more raw and less experienced.

My vocal style is largely without the form and stylistic intention that it has adapted over time. What I have found most interesting is that, I am still exploring the same themes in the music that I make today, that I was exploring four years ago, those themes being, unrequited love, loss, and memory, though, this album, which is really my only full length album, is traversing different situations & experiences with different people in my life.

I like that the mood of this album is both melancholic and upbeat. I hope that listeners can take away some softness and sweetness from hearing this album, along with some thoughtful and fresh contemplations on heartache. I hope that people take away, empathy, love for the characters introduced on this album, and a positive, relaxed vibe.

I hope that people will relate to all of the loss expressed on this album, & also, to see through to the hope and rebirth that inevitably comes from loss. This was made during an incredibly peaceful period of my life, whereas other albums and singles of mine were created during difficult or tumultuous times, thus, the tone of this piece is sturdier, and, more relaxed and observational, though not without its share of angst and questioning. It basically, is not as desperate of an appeal, as future records would be. These songs came to life during a period when I was working with a band, and playing from a selected repitore of music that belonged to other artists. This was what I was writing about on the side of doing that.

It reflects a moment of my life that was characterized by peace and genuine enjoyment, and is the only album of mine that I’ve written while in truly happy and productive relationships with others. Some albums happen without an intention to be making an album, and this was very much that way.

‘I’m still thinking of you’ feels like a travel album when I listen to it, as it is both personal and environmental. It feels like a sonically diverse album.
It is cool for me to be hearing the perspective of a slightly younger self, reflecting on time that I spent in the western United States, where many of those songs were written, while on the road. I am brought immediately back to places that I’ve lived and to where I’ve traveled extensively; places like, Colorado and California.

I dedicated a good amount of creative time to absorbing the tones & distinct qualities of every town where I happened to find myself .. Durango, lone pine, and so many more places.The American West possesses such a vast and beautiful desolation that is worth writing in, or worth writing about.

These songs feel more stylistically and rhythmically locked in, in comparison to what I do now, that is much freer .. this reflects a departure in my own listening, from intently tuning in to artists like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, towards more Miles Davis, Gabor Szabo, Tommy Guerrero & experimental jazz, after I moved to New Orleans. Learning how to infuse a bit more space inside of a song became my new and favorite discovery in developing music in the past few years.

When I hear newer releases of mine, they bring me to New England, where I’ve been based for the last extended period of time. I never want to lose grip on the spaciousness and openness of places that I’ve spent time in, or the music that I’ve heard, while in the narrow spaces of New England, that is often, sheltered by puritanical values. This album reflects both the expansiveness of travel, and the preciousness of small town stories, in capturing snapshots of people who have somewhat intentionally hidden themselves away from the insistent pulse of the world, in New England.

There’s an unconscious, but large amount of symbolism and imagery on this album.
There is, wanderlust and imagination.

Velvet and gold is a funny song to me. This was a song that I wrote very early in my life, and is an exploration of the personality type of most of the women that I’ve been rejected for, in my life; and, it still holds true! It is maybe, my secret wish that I could be the manipulative and volatile damsel in distress character that men seem to prefer to more nurturing and introspective personalities.I had lost too many really sweet guys to women who were just absolutely, wicked. I had to write a song about it.

April and Johnny is a country style song that my dad recorded with me. The story follows Johnny, who considers himself plain, and is infatuated with April, who is exotic to him.
I hoped to glorify the beach communities that I grew up in .. reflecting both their charms, and their limits, and exploring how they seem imbued with a quality that is both strange and sweet. Much of what I’ve ever done as an artist has been a response to feeling insulated in these particular environments, yet I hope to honor the positive aspects of them too, in song.

California Snow was a song that I wrote about a guy who kept breaking promises to meet me, years ago in California .. a theme that has continued to resurface, again and again.
I wrote this song in a cafe in north beach in San Francisco, and partly on a train. I never play this song because of its unconventional tuning.

It is pretty neat that now, my dad’s band covers this song and takes it into a new rock influenced dimension.

My songs have been a good inventory for which person was breaking my heart in which year, because, I honestly forget sometimes.
At a certain point, pain just blurs together.

This album is a mixture of placelessness, and a sense of place. Peter Pan is a single that I released that is very much part of this collection of songs, though released separately, and is a dream ridden contemplation on the bridge between idealism and realism that each of us crosses in our daily lives, and which explores place & placelessness.

The track, I’m still thinking of you was my attempt to couple memory with presence, and really seeks to approach the complexity of a relationship that is plagued by doubt and ambivalence.

I sought to come into touch with my inner child, and with all of her leftover vulnerabilities, some of which carry into adulthood, and which become so clearly reflected in the context of a relationship.

In my experience, songwriters are sponges of expression and experience, and eventually, all of that content starts to drip out of a person, almost uncontrollably.

What can fans do to support you?
Music is a complicated business, and I realize often that people who do not play themselves are not always aware of how to best support musicians .. purchasing songs from Bandcamp or from other sources online is amazing, and is so much appreciated.

Following, sharing, and liking our music is great, too. I am very behind in a social media sense, having come to Instagram and other social networks rather late, due to an ultimate desire to disconnect and unplug at certain periods in life. Continuing to follow us, coming to shows, and telling others about our new music is really helpful. I realize more and more that there is just so much networking that I cannot do alone.

We as musicians are judged by industry professionals, in many ways, based on our digital platforms, and what those can reflect about our careers, when it comes to receiving placements and shows.

Continuing the relationship with artists actively in a digital sense, after we’ve met in person at a show, is wonderful. I am sure that I would be speaking for most independent musicians when I say that, we would all really appreciate that 🙂

Most of the time at shows, I am realizing that my lens in regard to music is different from someone who does not work in this industry .. music often amounts to a numbers game, from a business standpoint, for artists. I am not always thinking about that part when I am providing a musical therapy, or teaching, or performing. Musicians are expected to do many different tasks at once, essentially, and that is, at times, daunting!

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