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 private reflection, cultural statement, 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 area 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 via 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 precise monitor to guide with, and the way does it set the tone for the remainder of the document?
I wished an upbeat energetic monitor with a catchy melody as a primary single. However I additionally wished 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 transferring on throughout a heartbreak, it’s about self-reliance and self-empowerment. All of us have our luggage that no one is aware of about that may change you profoundly. However you may 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 is perhaps starter. The whole album is made with the guitar as a number one primary instrument. We began constructing from there. I believe you may anticipate that on the remainder of the album as properly. However we felt free introducing different genres into the music as properly. With out dropping an approachable pop sensitivity.
There’s a transparent affection for the golden age of rock ‘n roll operating via the one, 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 may 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 wished it to have a European vibe to it. I like the outdated 60’s Italian and French motion pictures for the aesthetic.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 method protecting that cohesion whereas nonetheless honouring your diversified influences?
Some songs on the album rely rather less on pop construction however most songs on the album do keep the widespread pop construction. In case you keep 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 take heed 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 if you happen to combine it a sure means. However by protecting the concentrate on the voice, in the precise recording settings, you get a extra pop high quality to it. Some might qualify the music nonetheless very a lot indie due to the shortage of synths and a drum laptop. 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 area for?
I believe that makes the recordings distinctive and genuine. Every part is so polished these days with stuff like Melodyne and autotune. I lately 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 smart to do it that means as properly. There’s a sure disappointment 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 may all the time distinguish them. Singers like that may not all the time attraction to the plenty, however after they emerge on the proper time, they depart the most important impression.
Your work typically balances the non-public and the political. How have current years formed the lyrical route of the album, significantly relating to themes like social criticism and grief?
I’ve made this album along with my associate independently. We invested in our personal recording gear and turned our attic right into a recording studio. A sport changer. Earlier than, I used to be all the time depending on a price range for a recording studio. Engaged on the clock. Now we have been capable of do it ourselves in our spare time. This gave us challenges, like determining the recording course of, but in addition some great 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 wished the final decade of mine to be mirrored on this album. Every part I discovered, I skilled and what I need to cross 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 keep our empathy, we are able to look and switch in direction of the skin world. Halfway, the album that shifts. I even have youngsters, and I felt I wished to make an album that sends a message to the following generations as properly. How to deal with all these items in life, all of us cope with eventually.
You’ve labored throughout disciplines as an actress, director, and songwriter. If 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 linked to one another. You may evaluate the singer to the actress, the music producer to a director and the songwriter to a playwright or screenwriter. The content material might differ, however all of them do mainly the identical factor with a distinct self-discipline. As a director, you oversee the complete play or movie. You may 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 exploit my voice in a extra elaborate means. Which asks for an additional talent. 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 individual sense of reality.
Your previous tasks have drawn closely from the place you have been dwelling on the time. Did any specific metropolis or surroundings form this new physique of labor, or did you method it from a extra inner area?
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, dying.
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 outdated masters however are nonetheless navigating the world within the right here and now?
I hope individuals admire the musicality of it. We did it ourselves within the little time we had, principally at evening. 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 themes 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 may give them some consolation or hope. I wished to make an album that leaves you with feeling when you’ve completed the final tune. An album that reminds us that we’re all linked regardless of our variations. God is aware of we’d like somewhat little bit of that on this world.
Uncover extra about Agnesz Anna through her official web site.
Interview by Amelia Vandergast
