by Joseph Mastel
It’s fascinating when an artist or band takes a left turn. In the early 1960s, Bob Dylan was revered as a folk music legend, but he shocked the world when he decided to use electric instruments at the Newport Music Festival in 1965. Grunge legends Pearl Jam departed from their trademark grunge sound on Vitalogy, taking a more experimental punk approach. And after their innovative alt-rock masterpiece, OK Computer, Radiohead decided to go all ecteronic and ambient with Kid A, arguably their magnum opus.
Anika is yet another artist to pull of a fantastic left turn. Her 2021 album Change saw her utilizing tons of ambient synths for a dreamy atmosphere. Instead of doing the same on Abyss, Anika goes in a completely new direction. Abyss is intense, rough, wild, loud, angry, and heavy. The synths are traded in for thunderously gritty guitars. It’s a wonderful combination of ‘90s grunge, alternative, and classic ‘70s rock. Abyss certainly is an unexpected style shift, but it’s Anika’s best record so far.
Recently, Post-Trash talked with Anika through Zoom about anger, influence, and her dynamic new record Abyss.
Anika by Anne Roig
This interview has been shortened and edited for length and clarity.
Joseph Mastel: Why did you decide to name your new record Abyss?
Anika: (laughs) Well, not to be too pessimistic. We’re entering this dark era and we have to take it with a slight lightness. I think it’s important to keep your spirits high. There’s a playfulness on the record even though there are words like ‘abyss.’ I started writing the lyrics for the first song back in COVID times and put it into a song now. It was one of my oldest songs and it’s symbolic of where we find ourselves right now. That’s why I wanted to make sure “Buttercups” goes at the end because it’s to show it feels like we’re entering the abyss, but at the same time, there’s hope in the end.
JM: What led you to pick the cover of Abyss?
Anika: It was a weird coincidence. This album is a lot about teenage angst and emotions I never really let myself have, so it feels a bit like that’s why I went a bit more in the grunge direction. It’s a lot more open and honest. The weird thing about the illustration is that by a very strange coincidence, I met one of my oldest friends from age zero to fourteen, whom I had completely lost touch with. She wrote to me on Instagram, saying, “Oh, I randomly found your profile, and I was wondering what you’re up to? I live in Rome now.” I happened to be in Rome that weekend. I’ve been to Rome once in my life, and this was the second time. It was a total coincidence. I went her house, and it was so weird because it was the same. Like no time had passed. She’s also got a little kid now. I saw this picture on her wall, and it was this drawing, and she’s a painter, and I was like, ‘Wow! What is this? I love this. Like I want this to be the album cover.’ She said she drew it when she was 18 in one of her first drawing classes, and I said, ‘Yeah. I really want to use this.’ She tried to replicate it, but it didn’t quite turn out the same, so we ended up using the original version she made when she was 18. We’re in these vessels right now and I feel trapped in a lot of these political situations in the world and I feel powerless, and sometimes I feel trapped in my own body. This album and this drawing symbolizes that.
JM: This album is a lot heavier and more aggressive than your other records. Does the sound reflect the anger and frustration you are feeling about what's going on in the world?
Anika: Yeah definitely. I was a lot more pissed off with this record, and that was really important when writing it. I wanted to be honest about where I’m at and my emotions and not have to feel like I have to curate my opinions or my moods or my outward image so carefully which is what we’re all in at the moment. With social media, everyone feels like they have to constantly curate how they come across, and I feel like this can be very suffocating and lead to a lot of mental health problems of not talking about where we’re really at. I want to help create this space again.
I think music can really give that space in a healthy and also inclusive way. Space for imperfection, for not being okay, for not having the answer, or just being mad. I can be mad and not blame other people for it. This album is a lot about coming together in these spaces through music or at a show.
JM: What were some of the biggest grunge influences or other influences on this record?
Anika: I listened to a lot of Hole records, different ones, especially in lockdown actually. I listened to Celebrity Skin a lot on repeat because often I’ll have an album in physical CD or record form that I just listen to obsessively. When I was younger, I listened to Evan Dando, The Lemonheads, and Slint, but also Riot Grrrl stuff and PJ Harvey, a big influence. Like I said, there’s a lot of this physicality of how music can be physical. So it’s also got X-Ray Spex and a lot of that kind of late ‘70s punk, post-punk scene. It’s a mixture of everything, really.
JM: The album was recorded live with minimal overdubs. Why was it important to you to record it that way?
Anika: I think that ties in as well with this whole thing of not wanting to create this perfect, polished image. That’s why I put together a live band because for Change. It was me and Martin [Thulin] playing all the instruments and overdubbing. But with this one it needed to be played at the same time in a real band way. So I asked some musicians I really admire, like some of my favourite musicians, whether they’d do it, and they were up for it. The crazy thing is I’m not actually playing any guitar on this record. I’m just singing because I needed to give the singing the full attention while listening to make sure they were doing it right. But it's weird because, obviously, I wrote the guitar parts and it's odd that I'm not playing it, especially the guitar line on “One Way Ticket,” because that is a bit more of my trademark style of weird freestyle guitar, but Lawrence [Goodwin] did it really well, and I’m happy about it. So that’s why, but I stand by that decision. I'm really excited to take it on tour. Luckily, Tomas [Nochteff] and Lawrence are also going to be playing live, and also Martin. So, it’s gonna have the same power live so that’s good.
JM: I really like the instrumentation for “Oxygen.” The riff and atmosphere reminds me a bit of Nine Inch Nails' With Teeth era. What was the influence behind the song? Could you also share the creative process behind the song?
Anika: Actually, I think it was the production that was influenced by The Breeders, where it comes into the verse with just the bass, and it creeps in slowly. I can’t remember which song. I have to admit I’ve never actually listened to much Nine Inch Nails, but that’s interesting. I love this though when people see stuff in it, and then I get to explore it after, and I’m like, ‘Oh nice,’ and then I find a whole new band that I like.
In terms of the writing process for most of these songs, I wrote basic guitar progressions and the vocals before, and then I went to Mexico and took them to Martin, and we sat there and finished them and sometimes tried to add more parts. For “Oxygen” I came up with what I saw as the chorus of “Give me oxygen, give me what I want, give me oxygen, give me what I want.” But then we ended up writing the sort of real chorus, which is, “It’s quite extreme.” But Martin is like, ‘No. That needs to come twice.’ I’m like, ‘No, for me, that’s the C part because the chorus gives me oxygen,’ and he’s like, ‘I don’t get it,’ and I’m like, ‘That’s fine’ (laughs). But that’s why the structures are always a bit weird. Somehow, in my head, it works a different way, but I love working with Martin because he’s always up for trying to understand my world and always very supportive.
JM: I also really like the intros you have for songs like “Abyss” and “Out Of The Shadows.” What led you to create those intros instead of just going straight into the song?
Anika: I think a lot of that was a bit influenced by Shocking Blue and Jefferson Airplane and these kind of little riffs where you can almost have a little breath. I think because it's quite an extreme album, I like to give this little minute to chill for a second, and then you go into it. I love those little riffs, especially in “Abyss.” I love riffs that go before this pre-chorus thing, and that’s massively influenced by the ‘60s and ‘70s.
JM: What led you to write “Out Of The Shadows?”
Anika: That one was massively X-Ray Spex, “Oh Bondage Up Yours!” inspired. It's definitely a bit of an angry song, and it’s a bit of a song against all the times I was told what to do. But the thing is, me and Martin wrote it totally as fun. I was in Mexico, and I was just screaming it in his apartment. Luckily, in Mexico, no one bats an eye when that happens (laughs). We had a little setup in his flat. I’m just screaming lyrics. I needed to let out this anger. I like to test my own limits as well, and sometimes, it’s hard to show anger as someone who’s kind of naturally quite quiet or quite reserved. I feel like if I can do that, then maybe others can do it too and have a release in these ways, and, as I said, in a healthy space and safe space, show whoever is listening at home. It definitely expresses a lot of anger, and I have to admit it’s about all the times I’ve been mansplained by someone who has less experience than me. Whatever, it’s okay. Oftentimes, it’s just people trying to be nice, but sometimes not.
JM: “Hearsay” references fake news, propaganda, pushing narratives, and believing stuff based on rumours. Why was it important to tackle those things in that song?
Anika: We’re in this time where the majority of people get their news from social media or YouTube or unregulated news sources, often from podcasts as well. A lot of it is just completely made up. I feel like we are in this age of people have forgotten to check, ‘Okay, well, what is the source of this? Where am I getting this information from?’ But sadly, if it's just a little pop-up that keeps coming up at the bottom of your screen, you might not even realize that you’re consuming this, and it might influence the way you vote, and that’s been apparent on a lot of past elections in the last 8 years. We’ve been noticing the effects, so it’s not only the obvious places like official news media but also the not-so-obvious places. It’s so important to be aware of that and to grow new tools to filter that because it's not being filtered for us. So, I think its being very aware of what scare tactics are being used to make us vote for stuff.
There’s a saying in England, ‘Yesterday’s news is today’s fish and chips papers,’ because they wrap fish and chips in newspaper. That doesn’t really work as a line, so I was like, “And yesterday's papers they line my birdcage.” It’s the value of this news tomorrow. It’s being aware of this very fast production of news and how often it isn’t checked, and we have no idea.
JM: You mentioned earlier in the interview that “Buttercups” is quite a bit lighter than the rest of the record. Was it always your intention to have “Buttercups” end the album because it’s so much lighter?
Anika: Not really. That was a later decision. I thought it was funny to put it after “Last Song.” It felt good because that ended up becoming a really sweet arrangement. I think it was important to give this hope that even when things seem like they’re crashing beyond repair, we can build something new like a phoenix rising from the ashes. It’s about not being scared of the end because the end leads to something new. It's about being active in that construction and also about giving your nervous system a break. I think at this moment, we so rarely take breaks from social media or news. I know in Berlin right now, people are really getting hit over the head with the current news. Sometimes, I think we need to lie in the symbolic field, smell the daisies, and give ourselves a break.
JM: “Walk Away” feels a lot more raw and personable compared to some of the other songs from the record, especially when you sing, “The truth is I don’t really like myself / And the truth is I don’t really like anyone else” and “The truth is I’d rather you just go to hell.” Did you find that expressing those thoughts and feelings was the only way to maybe help you get through what you were going through?
Anika: Yeah, I think so. I feel like we exist in these times with just this impossible standard of perfection. Everyone is constantly faced with it. Like every time you go on Instagram, everyone looks perfect, and you look in the mirror and you’re like, ‘What am I? What do I symbolize? I don't have opinions on this on this thing or that.’ The bar is so high, but it’s impossible for everyone to be doing this every day.
Of course, the result is that it has a big impact on your mental health. I think it was important to have a space to actually realize these feelings or to reflect on them and be like, ‘Okay. I feel down because of this.’ I sometimes want to say where I’m at and there’s not always a space for that. So again, it’s having a positive outlet for darker emotions and learning to talk about them and share them and be a bit lighter in yourself.
JM: What I also find really interesting about that song is the instrumentation is a bit more upbeat and happy sounding compared to the darker lyrical content. Why did you decide to do that?
Anika: The way it is made lighter is actually the drum pattern which I programmed. First, I wrote the song and realized, ‘Wow. This is really dark.’ Then I was originally gonna take out the third verse, but I left it in. But the way I tried to bring it up is I created this slightly mellow drum pattern, and it gives it this jolly undercarriage. I think that was important with the album is there’s a lot of dark humour in there. I think its important to try and not take the world too seriously right now. I think sometimes you have to give yourself a little break and lighten up even though it’s dark. Of course, there are a lot of dark things happening, but it's okay; sometimes, give yourself a little break. It's alright. So that’s why there’s always these little bits of humour in there.
JM: It’s a very guitar-heavy album, so do you have one or two riffs from the album that you really enjoyed making?
Anika: I mean, it definitely is very guitar-heavy. That was actually the point. I didn’t want to use any synths on this album for a number of reasons because I really wrote this album for live. This time I was like, ‘I want to do it for band.’ I want bass, guitars, and drums. I love the “One Way Ticket” line, which Lawrence has now taken. I love the little riff on “Abyss,” which is kind of like a homage to Shocking Blue or Jefferson Airplane. I was playing a lot of “White Rabbit.” I love playing “White Rabbit,” and somehow, that was in there somewhere.
JM: What does Abyss mean to you personally?
Anika: It’s a release from all this anxiety I’ve been feeling over the past few years and what to do with it. This feeling of helplessness and this feeling of needing to come together and socialize again as a way to be less scared of the world and fell less alone. The only way forward in these times is to come together as opposed to building walls.