Another artist I found via The Wild is Calling, Ani After Death is some dramatic stuff. Just hit play, then we’ll sort ourselves out later:

That’s something, eh? That was her very first single, called Water. There’s a fantastic earworm in that song, but bless you if you’re singing it mindlessly in mixed company. I first heard it Friday and Apple Music tells me I’ve played it 8 times since then. Add in the YouTube views and I think it’s safe to say I’m hooked on this.

So what can we learn about Ani After Death? The obvious guess is the right one: not much. She appears to be from (or via) Calgary, but spends time in eastern Europe. The above video was shot in an abandoned East German hospital. She seems to have a knack for the provocative, atmospheric and magnificently off-kilter. She describes herself like this: “Ani After Death stepped out from the shadows of a post-Soviet nuclear reactor and crossed the ocean in search of the man in red pants“, which describes the aesthetic of the music and the videos pretty well (we’ll see about the red pants).

Here’s her latest single, Father Says (Remix). This is a little more radio-friendly, and still has a bit of Portishead-via-Twin-Peaks sound:

It’s tempting to make comparisons to classic trip-hop like Portishead, Zero7 or Morcheeba, but it’s a more current sound, and somewhat darker and more mysterious, both musically and lyrically. Her Instagram is only a year old, and her website is even more minimal.

The remaining single is called Fake Happy, and it’s similar in style to the other two. Melodic but slightly off-balance vocal, strong bassline, great music video. This is a perfect example of how to do something creative and memorable with a very limited budget:

That last shot is fantastic.

Roman Hense is the director behind all three music videos. On his YouTube, there’s the behind-the-scenes video for the making of Water, the song at the top of the post. I love watching the way he twists and bends to get the shot:

It’s a crazy strong start. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

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