Mentalism doesn't come cheap. Anni Rossi is like Regina Spektor on mushrooms, hollering, squeaking & swooping all over her fascinating music like a schizo hawk gleefully chewing a whole family of convulsing squirrels stuffed with marbles. 'Afton' is her debut 4AD effort and it's pretty scintilating gear. Hardly folk music, it's got some really sideways, scratchy, moody strings battling like fuck all over the shop, a cracked acoustic guitar that sounds like it's been rescued from granddad's allotment shed, tinkering percussive rattles, deranged but joyous arrangements.....It's like Long Fin Kille, Joanna Newsom & Bow Wow Wow in a wood chucking broken instruments at each other. When she behaves herself like on 'Ecology's' parping odd-pop, you feel like she could floor fans of the likes of Laura Marling, in small doses elsewhere she is as moving as Nina Nastasia but when she's being naughty & doing these startling vocal gymnastics you want to hide behind your sofa and tremble/giggle with terror. Here's a lady who wants to come round and have a personal excorcism in your head and to be honest, on second hearing, i'm first in the queue. The most beguiling and charming release this week, and well done to 4AD for signing someone so decidedly odd and talented. CD digipak mini album only.
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What their label says...
From Minnesota via Los Angeles, 22-year old Anni is now based in
Chicago. Having been classically trained from a young age, Anni is a
most accomplished multi-instrumentalist and as you’ll hear, it’s the
viola that forms the centrepiece to her music.
Her debut 4AD release, Afton is both an accomplished and
confident set. Fleshed out to great effect, most tracks were recorded
in October 2006 and have been available before in different forms on
limited releases and her MySpace page. Collected on this EP for the
first time, they work incredibly well together and introduce her
perfectly as a new American alternative talent.
Anni has recently been working at Electrical Audio, Illinois with Steve
Albini on her debut album, which is slated for release on 4AD in the
New Year.
She’s no slouch, having already extensively toured her solo work and
honed her live performances to a jaw-dropping tee. She can also count
artists like Electrelane and The Ting Tings among her admirers and has
toured Europe and the US with both of them.
