From the very first tones everything seemed to be clear: ANMA‘s debut EP “Grow” (released in September) is the perfect soundtrack for late, cold autumn evenings – the musical incarnation for the season’s melancholia.
Each of the themes that Anne-Marie Søndergaard a.k.a. ANMA chooses to share with us on her atmospheric EP is connected to the phases of a young woman’s journey. Inspired by sound snippets and stories she stumbled upon on her own travels as street-singer somewhere between Aarhus and India, ANMA does not only tell about the actual adventure of discovering an unknown place, but also about discovering the own self.
Already at the beginning, the mellow title track “Grow” sums up what this whole journey is actually all about: the search for a place where one can settle and grow. A place where one can find peace of mind and feel at ease. A place to call home.
The recollection of one’s own idea of “home” though – in any way – seems to automatically implicate melancholic thoughts. With the second song and my personal favourite “Hometown”, ANMA captures a bittersweet, gloomy limbo in-between homesickness and the urge to leave. The sad trumpet sound really does the rest there…
The somewhat cheerful, almost jazzy “Dancing In The Park” then feels like the story of a summer memory someone remembers in the presence of colder winter times. The song ends with typical sounds of a park scene in the background (if you listen carefully you can hear what might be mumbling voices of people and a barking dog) – and with this detail it builds a wonderful transition to the emotional “My Love” which features the beautiful autumn motif of falling rain in the background.
The journey we follow along on the EP ends with its first single “Sail To The Other Side”. Or does it really end here? The final could tell us about both – the insight to “let it be” and to actually return to the place where everything started, or the continuos striving for an even better place where “the grass is always greener”… And somehow it’s exactly this uncertainty about a real meaning that makes the universe that ANMA creates on her debut EP so wonderfully endearing.
Listen to the EP “Grow” on Spotify or SoundCloud – and find out about its personal meaning for yourself.