Swept Away - Anna Phoebe’s ‘Sea Souls’
For a group of islands like the U.K., the importance of the sea cannot be underestimated. Not only for the more mundane reasons like travel and shipping, but the cultural impact it’s had and the reason so many seaside towns still thrive today. But what about our general wellbeing? If you’ve ever crouched with your toes gently touching the seabed and swayed with the waves that rise up past your shoulders, then you’ll know what I’m talking about. Anna Phoebe has created an album about our connection to the sea, called ‘Sea Souls’.
Image Credit: Rob Blackham.
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Anna Phoebe’s career has taken a variety of avenues. As well as a more session musician capacity with artists like Roxy Music, Jethro Tull, Jools Holland and on YVA’s brilliant ‘Hype Machine’ EP, Phoebe has worked with many others on her own compositions.
These include her ‘Between Worlds’ project, pieces written and inspired by scientific images mostly in the field of cancer and Alzheimer’s research. This sees Phoebe in collaboration with the University of Kent in research funded by Cancer Research U.K., and more recently in a film made with the European Space Agency called ‘No Planet B’ on the subject of the climate crisis. The latter would be performed live during the 2019 Space Rocks event at London’s Indigo venue within The o2 Arena.
Anna Phoebe’s scoring work extends to the Royal Ballet School, the World Wildlife Fund and in short films such as ‘Ethel’ (starring Miriam Margolyes) and the award-winning ‘Belittled’ in 2018. Outside of composition, Phoebe still facilitates a session role in television works such as ‘Peaky Blinders’, ‘Black Mirror’ and ‘In Plain Sight’.
Phoebe has also formed a duo with pianist and producer Aisling Brouwer called AVAWAVES. Their debut album ‘Waves’ was released in the summer of 2019, with their follow-up ‘Chrysalis’ coming in October, preceded by the title track as its lead single.
In terms of her own work, Anna Phoebe released her solo album ‘Between The Shadow And The Soul’ in 2014, while her older works in ‘Rise Of The Warrior’ (2005) and ‘Gypsy’ (2006) are still available on streaming services. More recently, Phoebe released her covers EP ‘ICONS’ in March 2021, a collection of music that has inspired her with artists ranging from Tracy Chapman to Roxy Music, Faithless and David Bowie. Anna Phoebe released several singles on the run-up to ‘Sea Souls’, but this album is best heard in its entirety…
Recorded during the pandemic, ‘Sea Souls’ began with ‘By The Sea’. Partly inspired by a coastline visit and recording made on the day Anna Phoebe worked on this track, her intermittent use of waves work in conjunction with the muted piano in the song’s introduction. Phoebe’s lead instrument is violin, of which there is plenty to absorb on Sea Souls. Her violin playing quite literally comes in waves, like the tide is breathing back and forth across this track.
The video for By The Sea shows the horizon as Phoebe saw it that day, with Anna performing her violin part. If you look closely, you can see the same video of the sea playing in the background as she records.
The reverb-laden piano to ‘Light On Waves’ feels as if you’re submerged, watching light play on and through the water’s surface. The string elements too are equally distant, but the melodies separate themselves from the piano like colours on a palette. The images you see in this video are a combination of waves filmed in Deal, Kent and images of cancer and Alzheimer’s research led by Dr. Chris Toseland at the University of Kent.
If you were to listen to the album version of Light On Waves, you’ll notice that around three-quarters of the way through, the mood darkens with a haunting drone creating a sense of foreboding. In these videos, the distinction is made all the more clearer in their divide. This time, the footage focuses purely on the waves in Deal. The twinkling sound you hear on Part 2 is bioscientist Dr. Natali Fili on percussion - in this case, laboratory bottles.
Similarly, Professor Mark McCaughrean of the European Space Agency contributes to ‘Horizons’ via a drone. Horizons is one of my favourite pieces on Sea Souls. Opening with uplifting vocals and violin, the track continues with piano which is either accompanied by or recorded with a percussive edge, as sometimes is the nature with piano. As Horizons progresses, the way the vocals are represented are as if they’re played like chords on a keyboard.
On the video, Anna Phoebe calls this the sequel to By The Sea, and it isn’t hard to see why in the imagery. Separated by water 230km across, parts of this video were filmed again in Deal and also in Wassenaar, where Professor McCaughrean is based in the Netherlands.
‘Sirens’ is inspired by the sea at night-time and the mythical creatures who sang across the waves. Wordless vocals here are provided by Anil Sebastian, while the guitar work is played by Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera.
One of the things I like most about this track is the pulse that begins around halfway, sounding less like a heartbeat and more like the impending absence of one. Twined together are the ambient renderings by Phoebe’s violin and Manzanera’s guitar, sounding as effortless as they are to listen to. Juxtaposed with this is Sebastian’s comforting lure - maybe approaching it wouldn’t be so bad after all…
‘Moon’, the roots of which were in a lockdown collaboration with poet, author and activist Salena Godden called ‘And The Moon Don’t Talk To Me Anymore’, cycles around pizzicato strings here. The rumbling cello part is provided by Klara Schumann, a great compliment to Anna Phoebe’s violin performance, while Phil Manzanera makes a second appearance, adding a layer of guitar. Later the piece is magnificently opened out by soprano vocalist Héloïse Werner, and though I wish there was more to be heard from Werner on this track, it’s not the last time she appears on Sea Souls.
‘Breathe’ is a sonic bridge to Anna Phoebe’s Between Worlds compositions. Originally written for the project in 2019, Breathe also features Jake Downs on piano, who plays on much of that work. The sparseness of the chords played by Downs serve as a springboard for Phoebe’s violin and Klara Schumann’s cello parts. There’s a sorrow to the melodies in Breathe, like you’re walking around an empty house that was previously bustling. One of the last singles to be released before the full album, the video showcases part of Sophie McElligott’s artwork for the record.
Musically, ‘Undercurrent’ is the most unique on Sea Souls, taking the record in a more electronic direction than before. Phoebe’s violin is ever-present, this time in cinematic sweeps, it’s in equal standing with the rushing Waldorf synthesizers like streetlights illuminating and darkening the interior of a car as it passes under them. There is perhaps also guitar in this song, the odd picking of steel strings darting from one side of the stereo field to the other. For the accompanying visuals on Undercurrent, Anil Sebastian makes a reappearance in this album’s story behind the camera, the disorientating images starring Anna Phoebe and the backdrop of Deal.
The following piece ‘Sea Drift’ is split into three parts. The first, and longest is the most calming composition on Sea Souls - a mixture of violin, a groundwork of drone and atmospherics. This track is inspired by floating on the surface of the sea and staring up at the sky to absorb the movement of the clouds while the world around you is muffled and distant. In a world that’s driven by our lack of connection to the Earth, this is a refreshing piece of escapism.
A gentle return to the electronica as explored on Undercurrent, both Klara Schumann and Héloïse Werner return to contribute cello and vocals respectively to ‘Sea Drift II’. The electronic direction is more subtle here though and I’m reminded of Bjӧrk’s ‘Vespertine’ album, combined with the layered strings and chant-like vocals of Werner. I love the synthesized bass part that appears briefly towards the end of this piece, fading in as the strings disappear beneath it, Part II finishing with Phoebe’s violin.
The shortest piece in this trilogy, Héloïse Werner is more upfront than before amongst the sound of vibraphone bouncing from one side of your head to the other. Despite this disorientating mixing strategy (a device I happen to love), there is something uplifting about ‘Sea Drift III’, rooted in the string melody. There’s a lot to hear in this fleeting composition, from the reversed sounds, the mixing, the violin breaking off from the string ensemble, and that synth part that conveys sentience.
A new collaborator can be heard on the album’s title track. Performing vocals on this piece, Richard Bundy has previously worked with Shakespears Sister, All Saints, Sugababes and Jimmy Sommerville. This is the only co-written piece on Sea Souls, originally an improvised track with far more layering which Anna Phoebe chose to strip back for this release. Featuring just Bundy’s exceptional voice and Phoebe’s string layers, the sound of Sea Souls is beautiful in its simplicity, feeling like a current you can drift away on.
Sea Souls concludes with a revisiting of sorts in ‘Beyond Horizons’. That percussive piano is still there from ‘Horizons’, but this piece feels more contemplative. A shared notion during the height of the pandemic was that we all had more time to think. That feels reflected in Beyond Horizons.
Before 2020, it seemed the grind of being stuck in traffic while heading to an office we didn’t need to be in, meeting deadlines we didn’t really need to meet was never-ending. To suddenly have the space to enjoy the simpler things, to spend more time with our families, to assess what really matters and to realise that for a time, we were all happier to be off the hamster wheel, well. It was freeing. I feel that in Beyond Horizons, and in Sea Souls overall. I want to try and hang onto this feeling, if I can.
Continue reading for our Q&A with Anna Phoebe about the making of Sea Souls. We ask about the collaborations on this record and beyond, the upcoming AVAWAVES album and performing live. All this and more below.
Image Credit: Rob Blackham.
1. Your new album 'Sea Souls' gives so many different points of view to all that the sea gives us. What's the oldest memory you have of the sea or seaside?
I remember as a child on holidays as a family, my parents would always seek out the most remote beaches in any given location. It was never the beach with kid stuff / bars / other families - we would always walk for miles and then build our own shade shelters with sticks and scarves or palms. I suppose the earliest memories of beaches were therefore about finding quiet away from the noise, a place to reflect and relax away from everything else.
As a teenager I grew up in St Andrews right on the coast in Scotland. I used to go for a morning jog before school started in the morning mist - the Haar - being on the beach in those stolen moments before the world woke up was such a magical time.
2. The album is written and entirely produced by yourself. When recording, what's the starting musical element, the part you often track first?
For this album the starting point was always the sea. Whether it was taking a video and then taking that back and having a jam alongside it, or literally floating in the sea with my eyes closed and music coming into my head which I would then quickly record as soon as I got back to my studio. In terms of instruments, most times it was piano, but also my synth. Sometimes it was a string riff or recording layers of vocals. In the Sea Drift series my thumb piano was the first instrument I recorded and then built the tracks around that.
3. In addition to the acoustic elements as present on the rest of the album, 'Undercurrent' is taken more in an electronic direction, what prompted that creative decision?
That piece was a response to a day when I was feeling overwhelmed by the turbulence of 2020. It's about being pulled in a hundred different directions in an ever-changing landscape, trying to shut out the external noise and find your ground, but being continually swept away by the current, never knowing what is right ahead of you, with all the twists and turns and shifting truths. It takes you down beneath the waves into an imagined deeper and darker world and is meant to evoke those depths of the sea. I wrote this with Waldorf synths, processed through Electro Harmonix effects pedals and through a Fender Vibrolux amp and then layered pianos, vocals and strings. When I was mixing it, I was constantly moving bits around, chopping bits out and sort of re-arranging it like an ever shifting jigsaw puzzle. There's a form of chaos in the structure set against the undulating and rhythmic synth line which I find uncomfortable but also meditative.
4. Phil Manzanera appears on 'Sirens' and 'Moon', did you give him much direction on what you wanted from his playing? Or was it more improvised?
No direction at all - I just told him the mood I was trying to create in each track and that I was looking for textures to add to the pieces and then let him do his magic. I trust him implicitly. He sent back the Logic sessions with his takes and literally said that I could do whatever I liked with it. I played around with some of the parts, but all those sonic textures and layers that he added and that are embedded in those tracks are 100% him.
5. You also toured with Roxy Music too, what was it like to play to those audiences?
Iconic!! It was a big deal for me at the time, and now when I look back at photos or relive the experiences, I do have incredible 'pinch-me' moments where it feels quite surreal to have experienced that.
6. You have a couple of extra special guests on this album in the form of Dr. Natali Fili on 'Light On Waves' and Professor Mark McCaughrean on 'Horizons', how did they become involved in the project?
Dr Natali Fili is a bioscientist working for Cancer Research UK, and I'd previously done a project based on Cancer and Alzheimer's research, responding musically to research images. As part of the choral work which I composed I also incorporated field recordings, which included Dr Fili 'playing' laboratory bottles. I then chopped and processed these files. Even if people don't realise what they're listening to, for me it gives the music a new depth to it - it extends it out of my direct influence or approach.
Same as for Professor Mark McCaughrean from the European Space Agency - we'd worked together on another project, but during lockdown he was creating drones in his garden shed. He kept sending them these really fun experiments, and there was a lovely moment where I was mixing Horizons and I thought I'd put one of them in - it was totally serendipitous but one was EXACTLY in the right key and exactly the right length, so it stayed. Apart from automating the volume I did nothing else. I love these experiments and happy accidents. The ethos just fits with my approach to the whole making of the album.
7. The title track is the only co-write on the album, based on an improvised recording with Richard Bundy. Was this piece of music created specifically for 'Sea Souls' or was this an experiment with an unknown purpose?
This was written together between lockdowns where we got together and improvised music. We'd both had the same experience of having 20+ years of career touring and suddenly our careers disappearing. The track originally had drums, synths, electronics - but as I was finishing the pieces for the album I kept thinking about Richard's vocals on this one particular track - it reminded me of a sort of guardian of the sea, this comforting presence...His voice is so beautiful and reassuring and in this piece it's like we acknowledge our past and our vulnerability and inner fears, enabling us to move forward. I went back to the track we'd made and stripped everything away, and then asked him if I could add it to the album.
8. As well as recording and producing 'Sea Souls', you also mixed all the tracks. Were there any tracks that became frustrating to get right? Something you had to attempt and shape many different times?
I would never call myself a producer and I'm definitely lacking in some of the technical knowledge, but with this album it didn't matter because I knew how I wanted it to FEEL - and I felt quite protective about the idea of handing that over to someone else. It would be like getting a stranger to write your most secret diary for you - it would just feel weird... I don't mind that the tracks perhaps aren't perfectly mixed, it was just more of a case for me of - if it FEELS right, then it SOUNDS right...and an acceptance of the inevitable imperfections.
Some tracks like Undercurrent and Horizons went through many versions and I kept coming back to them over a period of time, but others like By The Sea, Beyond Horizons and Sea Drift I were very spontaneous. Even in the pieces that underwent many mix versions, a lot of the actual recording takes were improvised layers where I left in the imperfections and flaws and really embraced the spontaneity of the process. At the core of each piece is a really specific and honest feeling and emotion I was trying to get across or responding to.
9. Sometimes a creative headspace can just keep on giving - were there any pieces you had leftover that didn't make the cut this time?
Haha - yes - great question! There's always a folder with lots of ideas and re-imaginings or extended versions. For instance Sea Drift I has a ten minute version which I'll probably release in the future. It was intended as a 10 minute relaxation moment, which I wrote after a morning of floating on the sea, drifting along in the gentle tide and surrendering and sinking in to that moment. However, ultimately I needed everything to fit on two sides of vinyl as I knew I wanted to release this album in physical format too but as the album is self released, there wasn't enough budget for a double vinyl pressing!
So yes, there are some alternate versions which I'll probably release digitally and also the beginnings of new music which may resurface in future releases.
10. You've had your own show on Soho Radio for a while now called 'Between Sea & Sky', what do you enjoy most about doing that programme?
It's a great way to stay connected with what's going on in my immediate musical landscape, but also to discover new music, composers and artists. I love it when people write in and recommend music to me - as well as when people comment on new music they've discovered through the show. I also love making a point of championing composers and artists who might not be particularly huge or mainstream - and making sure I use the radio show as a platform to showcase diverse and inclusive talent in the classical music scene.
10. During the pandemic, you worked on part of YVA's fantastic 'Hype Machine' project, what was that experience like?
I love YVA! This was all very organic - she sent me tracks and I recorded everything at my studio and sent her back the Logic sessions. It was very similar to the way I worked with Phil Manzanera, except a role reversal where I was now the musician. YVA is a brilliant artist, she has a super clear direction about her sound and what she wants, but she also trusts the musicians she works with and there is plenty of room for self expression.
11. Your second album with AVAWAVES called 'Chrysalis' is coming out in October, what can people expect from this new record?
It's slightly more electronic that the debut album but it is definitely a continuation of the AVAWAVES sound. We wrote initial ideas together in January 2020 but then the pandemic hit so we finished writing and mixing the album remotely.
12. Are there full performances of 'Sea Souls' coming? Is performing the complete work something you'd like to do?
I just did my first two performances of Sea Souls and it felt really incredible. It's quite an emotional experience sharing something which feels so personal and vulnerable. It wasn't written or recorded to perform live so it was an experiment to see if it would even work. I definitely enjoyed it and would love to do more.
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Listen to ‘Sea Souls’ and purchase signed CDs via Anna Phoebe’s Bandcamp.
Check out the Dinked Edition vinyl of ‘Sea Souls’ via their official website, available in indie record stores across the UK.
For more information about Anna Phoebe, visit her official website.
Learn more about ‘Between Sea & Sky’, Anna Phoebe’s show on Soho Radio, plus listen to previous episodes via their website.
Follow Anna Phoebe on Instagram and Facebook @annaphoebemusic and on Twitter @annaphoebe.
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