Not with a voice like that it won’t! One of Domino Record’s latest signees is London’s Anna Calvi, a rising talent from the borrows with a voice of an angel and fingers as if molded on the guitar. Where she shines however is on the stage, as some who’ve seen her live with Grinderman this fall can confirm – a stage overflowed with a cascade of raw emotions – quite peculiar considering Calvi’s a very shy person, as she relates. ‘When I play live I’m a different person,’ Anna smiles, sweetly. ‘I feel powerful and fearless. All the things I wish I felt in everyday life.’
Elegant, intense and masterful, Calvi’s performances and upcoming self-titled album about love and lust, slated for March 2011, promises a great deal. Again, I can’t help but praise her guitar work, elegantly spaced and with chords which could shiver even the most frivolous of beings.
‘It’s a record about the internal forces in life which are out of your control and can take you over, and how you survive them. It explores intimacy, passion and loneliness. There is an element of darkness to the record but there is also a sense of hope. This album is the culmination of my whole life up until now,’ says Calvi – the most qualified person able to describe this immensely intimate record.
I’ll leave with Anna Calvi and her music right below where you can watch two incredible live performances. The first is for the album’s closer “Love Won’t Be Leaving” recorded live at Luminaire and her cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Joan Of Arc” recorded in an attic.
“Love Won’t Be Leaving”
“Joan of Arc” (Leonard Cohen cover)