The dark side

In barely four years, Ana López has gone from being a student in Madrid to a respected singer-songwriter with an international tour under her belt. With Oh, Monsters! she steps into the shadows: if her debut was light, this second album explores a more complex, intense and drawn-out stage, born out of the difficulty that hit once the promotion for her first album ended.

“I’m very much at peace with everything… It’s not a bright album, but no matter how dark the song is, it always feels like the storm has already passed.” Anni B Sweet speaks with the calm of someone who has gone through a mature process, both at home and in the studio. The result is hard to pin down: it mixes rock, folk, sugary pop and electronica in a body of work that doesn’t give up on melody, but does move away from the bright acoustic sound of Start, Restart, Undo.

She had songs piled up from three years of writing, and chose the ones that best represented her “darkest stage”, aiming to tell a chronological story. Production was handled by Guillermo Galván (Vetusta Morla), Javier Doria, Ángel Luján and Anni herself, with a team that also included Manu Cabezalí, Juan Diego Gosálvez, Jesús Chumilla and Moisés Gómez. Thirty days of recording at Reno Studios.

“In these songs I reveal a lot more about myself than even my friends might know.”

She frequently listens to Feist, Cat Power and Joanna Newsom, but also Band of Horses, Elliott Smith, Bon Iver and Beach House. She admits that the comparisons to Russian Red, common after her debut, hurt her. “Anni B Sweet” — she explains — came about because “Ana López” didn’t sound right to her, and she was worried people would shorten it to “A Lo”.

She still turns to Noni (Lori Meyers) and Guille (Galván) for advice. Her father, she says, was disappointed when she left Architecture for music. She’s planning to release a Spanish-language EP in October.

Oh, Monsters! is released by Subterfuge.

Text: Cristina V. Miranda · Source: MondoSonoro nº 24, June 2012.