anmar
anmar's "this magical place," isn't just an eclectic soundscape, it's a whimsical playground for introspection. Her music embodies this with a playful clash of light and heavy. Childlike choir samples echo and dance among airy melodies, framing lyrics that unfurl with vulnerability and quiet self-doubt. It's an interplay of dreamy soundscapes and profound lyricism that showcases anmar's ability to balance lightness with depth.
This exploration of the human experience invites listeners to wander within its ethereal soundscapes and within themselves, navigating the intricacies of existence. I felt an immediate connection to the EP, particularly drawn to the introspective nature of the lyrics and the evocative metaphor of "this magical place" – a realm, I believe, that exists within us all. I've been on a perpetual journey to find and fall in love with my own, and anmar's music became a beacon along the way.
I had the opportunity to interview her last fall, but sharing this profound connection felt daunting. Imposter syndrome reared its ugly head, doubts spreading through my mind like storm clouds. Could I possibly do justice to the art that had moved me so? Am I making myself too vulnerable simply by sharing vulnerability? Perhaps I cannot share perfectly, but I can with genuine enthusiasm and a heart brimming with love - and I believe that allowing oneself to be vulnerable is, in fact, an act of strength. So, here I am, ready to share my conversation with anmar, hoping her words and music resonate with you as much as they have with me. Prepare to be moved, to see the darkness illuminated, and to find strength in the fragility of your own "magical place."
Audi Locus (AL): What are your earliest musical memories and what was the moment that sparked your interest in pursuing music as a creative outlet?
Anne Marie (AM): When I was a kid, I was in a children's choir from the age of 6 to 11-ish. Here I got to sing together with a lot of other children, and every year we went on a trip. I had some great friends there, and we'd always make a performance at the end of the trip from a concept of making up new lyrics to Bizet's “L'amour est un oiseau très rebelle” (from the Carmen opera) while dressing up as weird characters. Half of our performance was always improvised, and I'm sure the amusement was mainly ours.
Concurrently, I wrote songs and taught them to a girl at school who, to my great disappointment, had one of the other girls tell me that she'd like to quit the "duo".
I think that I've always been a creator and have always tried to share the creatorship with other people, but have now learned that I can do things myself.
AL: Your debut EP, 'this magical place,' was released in June this year. How has the journey been from conceptualizing the EP to releasing it to the world?
AM: It's been so fulfilling.
The process of starting from scratch, in a vacuum of no ideas, and grasping for the slightest hint of an idea to nursing it and turning it into something tangible - not just for myself but for others too - has been rewarding.
Of course it's been tough as well, and sometimes I find it very lonesome to be the only one pushing, but it equally satisfies me.
AL: Your music seems to embrace openness and vulnerability. What has been the most rewarding aspect of sharing your music with the world, and how has the audience's response impacted your creative journey?
AM: To be honest, the release itself was underwhelming; I put so much work into promoting the EP in the months before that I was completely tired when I reached the release date and just needed a break from it, so I set the date of the release concert a month or two ahead. When you release digitally, your only feedback from the listeners comes in numbers of streams, saves and likes. This does not satisfy as a feeling of release.
So when I stood in front of the audience on the night of the release concert with my band and shared the songs, atmospheres and emotions of the EP with them, I could finally sense a feeling of release and shared delight. Meeting the audience in those moments is so meaningful and empowering for me personally and for my artistry.
AL: The title of your EP, 'this magical place,' is intriguing. When I listen to the EP, I imagine that the 'magical place' is within oneself, or even the entirety of oneself. Could you elaborate on your intent behind the title and how it ties into the themes explored in your songs?
AM: I think that your interpretation of the title is not far from what I intended with it.
To me, the magical place is a place where I am free to play, explore and grow. And to be specific, this place opened up within me during my two years as a music student in the Netherlands from 2020-22, when I was finally confronted with the old "demons" that kept interrupting my creative process. I think that I am still discovering this place within myself and find that it's always been there, but for stretches of time I've been ignorant to it and non-attentive to it.
When I tend to it, it brings me great joy to spend time there and to witness the outcomes of what ideas emerge from it. In a way it's me and in a way it's something autonomous which takes shape through me.
AL: In the process of creating your EP, did you encounter any unexpected musical discoveries or breakthrough moments that shaped the final outcome of the songs?
AM: Yes! The whole EP is a product of moments of surprise.
What triggered the opening of the magical place within me back in the Netherlands was the shift from writing and composing at the piano to recording and producing on the computer. For the first time in a while I was all by myself and had no one to write for, so I needed a way of creating beats etc. without a drummer, bass player and so on. But instead of being just a practical solution, the music software turned into a playground where I kept discovering new facets of my own sonic universe, and this in turn helped me get rid of my ingrained ideas of correct ways of doing things.
So I was experiencing the childlike amusement of exploring something for the first time, and I hope this shines through when listening to the songs.
AL: The pandemic was a challenging time for many artists, but it seems to have played a role in shaping your music. Can you share more about how solitude influenced your songwriting?
AM: I think that the solitude which came with covid and moving to a new country was crucial for me in order to to tend to this place that I've described in the previous questions, and I am now more aware than ever of the necessity of spending time alone doing nothing for creative ideas to emerge. In a way, you become more prone to silliness and alternative ways of thinking when you're on your own which is a good change for the creative mind.
AL: Which artists or music styles have been your biggest inspirations? Please also share any transformative encounters with music that have a role in shaping your musical identity.
AM: This is a tough question somehow. I guess my inspiration rarely comes directly from music sources, but there are definitely musicians whom I feel some kind of a musical affinity with;
I generally enjoy when the music I hear is multi flavoured and not easily placed within a certain genre or style. When thinking about this, artists like Björk, Imogen Heap, and Enya come to mind. Artists like Feist, Anna Calvi, and and Sufjan Stevens all share a quirkiness which I really dig! I'm in awe of artists with strong creative and bold statements such as Christine and the Queens and Janelle Monáe. I also have a blue note matching that of Oren Lavie and Joni Mitchell.
I think that my most transformative encounter with music has been my ongoing love affair with choir singing, which has become part of my identity and musical DNA. Singing with others is extremely healing and withholds something unexplainable and almost primordial.
AL: Your song, "My Voice," is accompanied by a beautiful visual narrative - a session that explores the connection between movement and sound, the body and the voice. Can you explain the inspiration behind this song and how the collaboration with Movement Choir came about?
AM: You remember the old "demons" I was talking about?
Well, my whole journey as a music student in the Netherlands was about discovering and trusting my artistic voice - as well as my singing voice - because back then I was carrying around a lot of stuck ideas of how I was not a lead singer or was too introverted to take enough space with my voice. So My Voice is a sort of love mantra for the voice describing the double sided nature of it; it's almost depicted as a mischievous being that you can either work with or against.
The Movement Choir is a beautiful initiative created by my old friend and the cellist of my band: Annette Kruse Scharling. As an extension of the choreographer Rudolf Von Laban's movement choir she's investigating how the body and the voice in connection can help us explore the intuitive nature of inner beings - individually and collectively. For the live session we brought together a group of our best friends from musicology and experimented with turning improvised exercises into choreography (for non-dancers), thus embodying and expressing this internal struggle with the voice.
AL: As you continue to grow as a musician, do you see any new directions or experiments you'd like to explore in your work?
AM: Actually the first ever experiment that I did with these songs was the creation of an actual physical space - a magical place - that people could play around with and explore while they were listening to the songs on their headphones. I've recently started investigating the possibility of collaborating with choirs and rearranging the songs for a more acoustic setup.
But I'm always prepared to change my path if I can see that the life of my music is elsewhere. Currently I'm focusing on meeting the audience in live concert situations and therefore spend quite some time on arranging gigs.
AL: Looking ahead, what can be expected from you in the future? Are there any upcoming projects or collaborations that you're excited about?
AM: We have some concerts in the agenda which will appear on my socials soon enough. But I'd say that you can definitely expect some larger setups - in Denmark but also abroad.
Keep up with anmar
photos: Sofi Hellberg Olsson
