Anni Rossi: Rockwell

What immediately strikes me about this recording (besides the great cover), is that Steve Albini has captured Anni Rossi’s playing very well, even though I doubt it was really that hard to do with the right equipment.

The plucks, the shuffles and the creaks are finally illuminated rather than softly quashed by the lower resolution recordings of her that existed to date. This presents her nuanced songs in the light they deserve, but perhaps not in the way that label 4AD suggest in their promo material:

“The energy, depth and eccentricities of her live show have all been successfully translated onto record; something she feels she has never achieved previously”.

Having seen her play a couple of times, I have to say that I disagree. On Rockwell the listener is denied the full picture because an essential element of Rossi’s live performance is her demure and solid grace conveyed by her movements and expressions. While pinning her viola under her chin she tosses her torso about and performs exciting and unanticipated vocal acrobatics; even an ‘expect the unexpected’ approach leaves you wide open to surprise. At first she looks constrained by the instrument before overwhelming the conditions with her captivating delivery. In my experience she takes the whole audience with her, sometimes to their surprise. But Rockwell doesn’t need to be a live set, I write this more as an inducement to see her play a show than to discourage interest in this fine record. Rossi was never just about frenzy; tender eccentricity is a fundamental element of her success as a songwriter. 

The album is short at twenty six minutes, which is just about right. Her songs deliver condensed and memorable melodies that swell up in the stomach and can keep you going a lot longer than most. Why so memorable? Well, this is a point. I’m not sure if they are memorable by nature, or by exposure. Not only have I heard 50% of this record twice through at live shows, I have heard 50% of Rockwell’s songs on record already. Twice… I own a copy of her CDR album Scandia which shares 4 songs with last years 4AD EP Afton, which in turn shares 5 songs (including the previous 4 carried over) with Rockwell. Admittedly the re-recordings make a difference and they are certainly great songs. If you haven’t got any of her previous CDR’s (and not many have) the re-use won’t matter at all, you’ll probably just be excited by her undeniable (yet divisive) talent. 

Rossi’s toe tapping and Morse-code string plucks echo out on ‘Machine’, before the rushing stabs start skipping along. There is a joyous inquisitiveness that lives and breathes in Rossi’s songs and despite the maturing process that has occurred between the recordings it is still there, as infectious as ever. While she sings about “these impulses, impulses, impulses from a machine” the song cascades along. It is underscored with some rapid clip clop percussion that then slows to a stop for a classically plucked bridge like a child interrupting its play to peer at something delicate and intriguing. She tells us that “nourishment is temporary”, her voice lilts high at the end of the words; she also toys with volume to diminish or increase the impact of a word. The reason I am studying this is because I would like to work out why I so dislike Joanna Newsom’s singing yet enjoy Rossi’s despite the fact that many comparisons have been made between the two. I guess Anni never falls on the twee side of the fence… 

The rendition of ‘Machine’ on Scandia is muddier and wilder, yet this version is more expressive despite its greater vocal restraint. She is starting to use her obscure vocal twists like a craftsperson who knows the effect that a tool makes under various pressures. I doubt Rossi would be frustrated by the suggestion that these songs have cropped up repeatedly because they are her strongest and will serve best to kick-start this stage of her career. I’m becoming quite glad that she has made the choice to re-record them. Scandia wasn’t a particularly good listen, but had some great highlights. The old versions of ‘Ecology’ and ‘Venice’ are raucously beautiful in the guise of lo-fi garage pop but the new version of ‘Venice’ is genuinely arresting and directly touching in a way it wasn’t before. The song punches a stark hole through the slightly distant formality that accompanies most of Rossi’s songwriting and it took me aback. This formality isn’t a downside, it comes across as the protection Rossi’s private world needs in order to continue to be the place of inspiration that it is. It’s good to hear someone portraying the excitement of existence without bragging about it. 

‘Ecology’ has lost a little of its brilliance as the polish on the Rockwell cut is a little too thick. ‘Glaciers’ has never sounded so mournful and is the better for it. But what about the new songs? They sit well alongside the older kids, they definitely look like the offspring of the same parents. ‘Living in Danger’ sounds like an amalgamation of a few of her old songs (with the pluck/swoon dynamic in full flow) but features a different lyrical approach. I can totally empathise with her when she sings: 

“Living your life in peace and in harmony, you’re making your own decisions / That’s how it’s got to be, for you and me / So many people running round and round, with no sense of logic / I see lies in the eyes of a stranger.” 

I haven’t noticed her sing so directly about human nature before. She’s usually musing without clear direction on the flora and the fauna, a road trip, or in the midst of a dreamlike reimagining of an historical event. This is a welcome addition. The almost-ballad ‘Las Vegas’ is the longest cut at 3’38 and is the least inspiring track, it’s most enjoyable element is the singing. You could half believe that the vocal had been lifted from a 50’s big-band swing ballad and totally re-dressed as a lumpy rural strum.  

‘Air is Nothing’ works as a reflective counterweight for the album whereas ‘Deer Hunting Camp 17’ is a little dull, but the lyrics are at least another intriguing glimpse into Rossi’s mythologised landscape from another angle. As she grows older (and hopefully writes some more songs) this mythology could grow into a strange and grand plant, part tree, part flower and half animal. I can’t say if she will fade out making one Rockwell/Scandia/Afton after another or choose some intriguing collaborators or just come up with some absolute pop gem then disappear from the world of music to do something entirely different. Half the appeal of this charming songwriter is that the world she sings about seems to be the most precious and valuable commodity to her, not the songs that grow out of it. But that strange and overused review epitaph is brewing, as “her best may be yet to come”.