Portland Artist & Composer Ann Annie Announces New Album ‘The Wind’ (6/7); Release New Song “Cottonwood”
January 19, 2024 BY Emma Orland
Today, Portland-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Eli Goldberg aka Ann Annie announces his fourth full-length album The Wind, due out on June 7th via Nettwerk. Along with the announcement comes the delicate piano-driven “Cottonwood.” Known as a purveyor in the modern ‘ambient-country’ movement, taking it into “uncharted new worlds” (Bandcamp Daily), Ann Annie brings us to the idyllic landscape of Cottonwood Canyon, Oregon. Stationary Travels premiered the track, praising the “expressive piano lines” that “paint a beautiful and welcoming scene.” Listen to “Cottonwood” on all digital retailers (here).
“Cottonwood” follows title track “The Wind,” along with “Sweet Coast,” Aviary Reverie – Waltz No. 2 in C,” and “Three Chords,” which will all appear on Ann Annie’s new full-length out this summer.
LISTEN & SHARE “COTTONWOOD” HERE:
https://youtu.be/CTOCIVX5UIE
Ann Annie’s The Wind is quietly transformative music that achieves a rarified intersection of subtlety and pure transcendence. The fourth record and Nettwerk debut from Portland-based musician Eli Goldberg conjures pastoral ambience through delicate yet weighty arrangements and warm, enveloping melodies—all possessing the entrancing effect of watching snow fall slowly on the horizon, or leaves spiraling in a miniature ground gust. These eleven songs are a showcase for Goldberg’s deeply felt songwriting and accomplished musicianship, charting new territory for the Ann Annie project while also refining past influences in search of blissful unvisited horizons.
The Wind is the latest sonic evolution for Goldberg, who started playing music at the age of 5 after a babysitter brought over a Casio piano to his house. After graduating early from high school to focus on music full-time, he dove headfirst into self-recording with his sad. rad project, which started as an exploration of indie rock’s trappings before Goldberg discovered the wonders of modular synthesizers. “I’ve always loved synths since I saw a picture of Daft Punk’s modular synth setup,” he recalls. All the while, Goldberg continued to gravitate towards the world of ambient music, taking particular cues of inspiration from the Album Leaf’s seminal 2004 classic In a Safe Place: “I didn’t even know it was ambient at that point, I just knew it was music I’d never heard before.”
The Wind represents the convergence of Goldberg’s ambient leanings, his lifelong love of classical music, and the radiant tones of cosmic instrumental folk music like James Blackshaw and William Tyler. It was recorded in his Portland home (“I love to weave in house sounds”) and the creative process was inspired by time off from making music, which allowed him to rethink what Ann Annie represented to him as a project. “I started to expand my idea of what it could be, which was an exciting experience,” he explains. “It gave me time to think about how things change and how to move through change—what that looks like for me. I wrote a lot of these songs in an attempt to let go of a lot of things, while being OK with doing so.”
Ann Annie in the Press…
“…fashions homey scenarios…”
– Pitchfork
“… weaves threads of acoustic strumming into beds of textural static, sometimes mirroring the flow of a coke bottle–clear river, other times emulating the thrash of a cool breeze ripping through a field.”
– Bandcamp Daily
“…lucid and mesmerizing… exploring soothing ambient textures and vast, captivating soundscapes…”
– DJ Mag
Ann Annie – The Wind TRACKLIST:
1. Opening
2. With Violet
3. Sweet Coast
4. Aviary Reverie (Waltz in No. 2 in C)
5. Introduction
6. The Wind
7. Lamb’s Ear
8. Interlude
9. Willows
10. Drift Creek
11. Silver Creek
12. Cottonwood
13. Three Chords
