Post-rock icon Anika releases her new album Abyss on NYC label Sacred Bones and will celebrate with an EU/UK tour. Originally from the UK, having set roots in Berlin, the then journalist, now vocalist, producer, and singer-songwriter has an already lengthy and multi-faceted career: singing with Portishead’s Geoff Barrow in his band Beak>, sweeping the UK and German underground crowds off their feet with her cover of “I Go to Sleep”, moving on to forming her Mexico-based band Exploded View and releasing two albums, releasing a follow-up solo album Change, dipping her toes in one-of-a-kind planetarium performances, writing poetry… and finally Annika Henderson, aka Anika, is back, with a new sound and a new ensemble of musicians by her side, some dazzling videos, and answers to a few questions about her inspirations and how she feels music could positively influence current societal issues.
A Sense of Urgency
Nadia Says: Anika, your new album evokes so many currents and flairs, it feels vintage and new at the same time. What musical or societal inspirations drove you to write Abyss?
Anika: After playing the Change album for the last years, I was very in need of making something more pushy, more rebellious, more wild live, more angry, more strong and argumentative, less nice, less pleasing, more urgent, more engaged. Change was never really written for live; it was written in a time of contemplation and being stuck at home. Now we are in a time of action, of movement, of making yourself heard, of socially coming together, building communities, safe spaces, units of rebellion and giving a voice to those whose oxygen has been taken away.
Photo by Anne Roig
So, with all that in mind, I was listening a lot to Sinéad O’Connor – specifically the Jackie song, also to PJ Harvey, to Breeders, Hole, Pixies, Lemonheads, Slint, Sonic Youth, Free Kitten, Pussy Riot, many of these grungy, dontgiveashit, not scared of leaking all over the edges kind of things. We have been in this weird time where the left fights the left and everyone has to be perfect or else they are cancelled, with the only rebellion to this coming from the right, where they flaunt their imperfections and celebrate their felonies. It’s really disgusting. It seems the right are planting squabbles within the left, knowing it will keep them distracted, like throwing raw meat into a lion‘s cage – and people are falling for it. I read an interesting part from the Angela Davis book “Freedom Is a Constant Struggle”, where she says people would ask her whether the Black movement or the women’s movement was more important, and she would say, they are inseparable.
“And this is the thing: we should be aligning, not pitting each other against each other. It’s not a contest, our struggles are all relative and are of equal importance. Let us come together and fight side by side.” – Anika
Concretely, how did this album come to be?
It was a very special process. I knew it had to be angry and urgent – an album for live. I started writing the songs at home alone in Berlin. Once they knew who they were, I asked my good friend Martin if I could escape depressing winter Berlin and come to Mexico to bring those babies to birth. So I booked 10 days and we worked on a track each day, with one half day off to watch my friend Tabatta Salinas’s much-recommended documentary “Rebeladas”. The trip was intense. I was shouting these lyrics, and we were recording the fully fleshed-out demos in Martin’s apartment in San Rafael. With the background noises of garbage trucks, kids screaming, taco trucks… it’s a noisy city, it’s not apologetic. I knew the album had to have its teenage years in Mexico. Because it was sunny, it gave a slight lightness to the anger; it was a way to put some distance between me and the raw emotions that started the songs.
Once we were done, I wanted these songs to be recorded live all at once, to capture that energy, that realness, no grids and moving things around – they needed life running through their veins. So I asked musicians whom I deeply respect to come play on it. Tomas, an old friend from the legendary band Mueran Humanos, played bass, Loz from The Pleasure Majenta guitar, and Andrea Belfi drums. Martin co-produced and helped me direct because I’m shit at trying to explain things in non-abstract ways, involving visual metaphors and smells… The whole process was definitely therapeutic and the best is still to come – playing it live and enjoying it with everyone in the audience.
Spaces for Rebellion
What feelings do you want Abyss to convey to the audience?
A need for action, a need to speak, a need for voice, for rebellion, for venting, for creating spaces for the rebellion, for coming together, for a safe space. We all saw this coming: the rise of right-wing politics. It’s so textbook, the economic crash, the plague, the recession, the wars beginning on the cusp, the dividing of opinions, the wealth scissors opening ever wider, this strange unregulated shift of power into hands of those who were not voted in and to whom we have granted easy access to our homes and given all our money, supporting their businesses, funding their complete takeovers, destruction of all competitors, to create monopolies we are at the mercy of.
“It’s time to unite to put the brakes on all this, put our money where our mouth is, as in, be aware where you put your money and who you are supporting, who you grant access to, who you are giving power to and see that it is the rich minority that we should be concerned about. Those with little are being targeted and blamed, regulated, and used as a scapegoat for society’s problems. Do not buy it, do not believe it. The enemy will come from the skies, through the wires, not from the seas in a little wooden boat.” – Anika
Do you feel that popular music can be a driver for change?
I think it is definitely a space for it. Of course, music is an important escapism tool too, and I don’t want to take that away, especially when times get tough, but it also has power as a tool for change, as a tool to unite and give a platform to voices and politics that need to be heard. I think the most beautiful part of music is its ability to bring people together, create safer spaces, spaces for venting, for communication, for change.
Photo by Anne Roig
Creating a Bridge
You are based in Berlin, but you travel quite often. How does this influence your artistic practice and views of the world?
I travel a lot, which also weighs heavily for environmental reasons, because of what travel does to the world. I try to travel by train when possible and only for work. I do love to travel and feel very fortunate that music has enabled me to because I get to listen to other people’s voices, and I try to give them a platform in my work. I want to be a bridge between people, I want inclusion, and to create a space for sharing ideas. We focus so hard on what divides us, but one thing I have learned from all this travel is that there is more that unites us – we are not all that different.
Even in music, collaboration is often seen as a weakness, it’s all about proving you can do it all alone, which is especially important for many female musicians who have had to battle the misogyny of the music industry for years. This view is underlined by an exploitative music industry model that means the little money made by the majority of artists is rather kept by one than shared; solo mentality can also be a matter of survival.
From my experience, making music with others can be a beautiful exchange. It takes you to a place you could have never reached alone, teaches and shows you things. It’s a conversation, a process of speaking, listening, giving space, respect, and compromise. We have different scars for sure, and this very much makes us who we are – inherited narratives. There is a lot of knowledge from all the years before that is not shared between peoples, cultures, continents – this is particularly the case when it comes to humans’ relationship with nature and the power of nature. Sadly, the dominant narrative these days is the desire to be bigger than nature, tame it as a wild beast and in doing so, sink the whole ship.
Lastly, Anika, Can you tell us about your plans following this release?
I want to tour as much as possible and build bridges in this increasingly hostile world. I want to support spaces that can become safe places for those increasingly hunted by the fascist politics sweeping the world. I want to give power and platforms to the voices, bring them together, to create movement and momentum to defend freedom of speech and body. I’m looking forward to sharing music, to hearing people’s stories, to spreading love and respectful, inclusive narratives, as well as empowering those who feel increasingly disempowered.
Listen to Abyss by Anika out now via Sacred Bones Records and stay connected with Anika via Instagram or Mastodon.