Rewind: Anna Calvi Review

By Tony Olivero

Top Track: Love Won’t Be Leaving

Bottom Track: I’ll Be Your Man

4 1/2 Nancies

If Anna Calvi proves anything on her eponymous debut, it’s that she’s howling—now and forever. With a tour-de-fury EP, the 28-year-old Londonite blitzes the pop music New Year. Dark lyrics and slicing guitar combine with layered production, yielding 40 minutes of a careful trance that is psychotic and lovely. This is no surprise; Calvi is the perfectionist Brit and mentee of ambient music theorist/producer Brian Eno.

Calvi started as a rookie renaissance woman with a slew of YouTube videos covering a trinity of polar artists: Elvis Presley, David Bowie, and TV On The Radio. Broadcasting herself, she rocked out with a dark side that is further amplified on her debut album. It unleashes a unique goth-pop diva hushing over classic Eno-influenced structure, melding into the sound of a sinister Karen O. With the same ruby lips, she’s afire with ambition. In “Blackout,” Calvi cascades percussion-laced love-longing psalms begging, “Don’t leave me.” Ending with “Love Won’t Be Leaving,” Calvi’s ever-ascending sound affirms that she is a musician howling in her own way, marking herself as a wolf like no one else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VtMmedjt2I