In her first official single from a forthcoming debut album, Agnesz Anna etched out her personal sonic terrain — one rooted in 60s rock ‘n roll and threaded with the complexity of non-public reflection, cultural remark, and the refined ache of lived expertise.
On this interview, the actress-turned-songwriter displays on the duality of her lead single No One Will Ever Know, discusses why imperfections deserve house in recorded music, and explains how motherhood, grief, and social consciousness quietly formed the emotional structure of the document. With references spanning Roy Orbison to Francoise Hardy, her sharp grasp of nostalgia isn’t surface-level. It’s filtered by means of a director’s eye, a playwright’s pen, and the human impulse to archive what issues earlier than time strikes on.
No One Will Ever Know marks the primary glimpse into your debut album. What made this the suitable observe to guide with, and the way does it set the tone for the remainder of the document?
I needed an upbeat energetic observe with a catchy melody as a primary single. However I additionally needed some romance and nostalgia to it. I just like the duality of that. I believe this tune has all of it. Though the tune is about shifting on throughout a heartbreak, it’s about self-reliance and self-empowerment. All of us have our bags that no one is aware of about that may change you profoundly. However you’ll be able to overcome it. Musically it has this rock ‘n roll vibe to it that takes you again to The Beatles or Roy Orbison. The retro high quality of the tune with all of the above qualities mixed made me assume that this may be a very good starter. Your entire album is made with the guitar as a number one primary instrument. We began constructing from there. I believe you’ll be able to anticipate that on the remainder of the album as properly. However we felt free introducing different genres into the music as properly. With out shedding an approachable pop sensitivity.
There’s a transparent affection for the golden age of rock ‘n roll operating by means of the only, each sonically and visually. What drew you to that retro aesthetic, and the way did Paris come into play for the video?
Due to the 60’s rock ‘n roll sound to it I began to get inspiration from that period. You’ll be able to see it’s a prominently male owned style in that period. I went searching for feminine references. I lived in New York Metropolis for fairly a while, however I’m additionally European, so I needed it to have a European vibe to it. I like the previous 60’s Italian and French motion pictures for the aesthetic. And I like the feminine vulnerability in these motion pictures and within the music. I considered Catherine Deneuve, Francoise Hardy, Vasthi Bunyan. Maybe a extra pure tackle the aesthetic. With the town being the backdrop for the story.
The album spans rock ‘n roll, folk-rock, nation, blues, and funk, all grounded in pop sensibilities. How did you strategy retaining that cohesion whereas nonetheless honouring your different influences?
Some songs on the album rely rather less on pop construction however most songs on the album do preserve the frequent pop construction. For those who preserve a pop construction all through the tune, it stays accessible. We additionally labored with layering sounds and vocals to get a extra fashionable pop sound, the pop vocals that most individuals hearken to these days. Postproduction, the blending of the songs, can also be essential. We didn’t work with beats however with actual devices. That may sound like a band when you combine it a sure means. However by retaining the concentrate on the voice, in the suitable recording settings, you get a extra pop high quality to it. Some could qualify the music nonetheless very a lot indie due to the shortage of synths and a drum pc. However I believe the songs have gotten a extra timeless really feel due to it.
You’ve beforehand spoken concerning the significance of imperfections in your sound—guitar scratches, vocal cracks. How did that rawness inform your recording course of for the album, and why is it one thing you consciously maintain house for?
I believe that makes the recordings distinctive and genuine. Every part is so polished these days with stuff like Melodyne and autotune. I not too long ago did a Bob Dylan cowl, and within the first verse, I sang a few blue notes as a substitute of the unique model. We left it in there as a result of it is sensible to do it that means as properly. There’s a sure unhappiness about what I’m singing, and the chords are blues. Why not? Or in one other tune the guitar sounded a bit on the sting. It gave the tune a rawness to it. That’s the factor with music as properly. If it feels good, why not? Why be standard? I like singers with their very own sound. You’ll be able to all the time distinguish them. Singers like which may not all the time enchantment to the plenty, however once they emerge on the proper time, they depart the most important influence.
Your work usually balances the private and the political. How have latest years formed the lyrical path of the album, notably on the subject of themes like social criticism and grief?
I’ve made this album along with my accomplice independently. We invested in our personal recording tools and turned our attic right into a recording studio. A recreation changer. Earlier than, I used to be all the time depending on a funds for a recording studio. Engaged on the clock. Now we had been capable of do it ourselves in our spare time. This gave us challenges, like determining the recording course of, but additionally the benefits of coming again to a former recording session and tweaking issues. We spent two years engaged on this album. I don’t know whether it is within the playing cards to do it once more. So, I needed the final decade of mine to be mirrored on this album. Every part I realized, I skilled and what I need to go on. I had some older songs mendacity round, however I additionally wrote new songs for this album. The primary a part of the album is about self-reflection. As soon as we are able to do this and preserve our empathy, we are able to look and switch in the direction of the surface world. Halfway, the album that shifts. I even have kids, and I felt I needed to make an album that sends a message to the subsequent generations as properly. How to deal with all these items in life, all of us cope with in the end.
You’ve labored throughout disciplines as an actress, director, and songwriter. Whenever you’re constructing an album like this one, how a lot of that theatrical sensibility spills into the writing, arranging, or visible storytelling?
It’s all so related to one another. You’ll be able to evaluate the singer to the actress, the music producer to a director and the songwriter to a playwright or screenwriter. The content material could range, however all of them do principally the identical factor with a distinct self-discipline. As a director, you oversee your complete play or movie. You might have a imaginative and prescient you need to obtain; you attempt to join all the weather. As a music producer, you do the identical however with music. When I’m singing, I attempt to think about or really feel the best way I (or another person) was feeling at the moment so I could make a truthful interpretation of the tune. I take advantage of my voice in a extra elaborate means. Which asks for an additional ability. And a tune is only a extra concise type than a film script, however all of them obey sure guidelines to make it coherent. The songwriter and the author are each lyrical storytellers. In all disciplines, you faucet into that vulnerability to create with your personal sense of reality.
Your previous tasks have drawn closely from the place you had been residing on the time. Did any specific metropolis or setting form this new physique of labor, or did you strategy it from a extra inner house?
No, this album displays my late 20s to my late 30s. Issues I’ve handled, how I see the world or how I really feel about sure issues like love, friendship, society, nature, motherhood, demise.
Because the album heads towards its launch this autumn, what conversations do you hope it sparks, particularly amongst those that, such as you, carry a love for the previous masters however are nonetheless navigating the world within the right here and now?
I hope folks admire the musicality of it. We did it ourselves within the little time we had, principally at night time. I believe I managed to make an album that has all of the influences of the music I like. If I find it irresistible there should be another person on this world who loves it as properly. I consider the topics and the devices, making a extra timeless really feel to it. However let’s see in one other decade or so. Allow them to be entertained by it. Allow them to really feel one thing. I hope the variety of matters on the album can provide them some consolation or hope. I needed to make an album that leaves you with a very good feeling when you’ve completed the final tune. An album that reminds us that we’re all related regardless of our variations. God is aware of we’d like a bit of little bit of that on this world.
Uncover extra about Agnesz Anna through her official web site.
Interview by Amelia Vandergast