ANAÏS The London-based music maker confronting the Darkness at Play

The London-based music maker confronting the Darkness at Play

Photography CHRISTINA EBENEZER

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“When people ask what I make, I call it soul music. Music for the soul.” No more apt description could be given to Anaïs’ softly spoken yet deeply healing sounds. In person, this emerging artist exudes an undeniable star power thanks to her eloquent point of view and refl ective openness, which all inform her impactful songs. She was born in France to a Senegalese father and Italian/French/Senegalese mother, and raised across Toulouse, Dakar, Dublin and Oakland, California, before studying at New York University’s (NYU) Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. She’s since relocated to London, where she swiftly made her mark with her debut EP Before Zero, which landed in 2018 and set out a strong and honest hand thanks to the lead song ‘Nina’, her shiveringly good ode to Nina Simone — which was accompanied by a liberating video shot in Senegal.

Anaïs teased us last year with ‘No Control’, a bluesy, stripped back cut about letting go. And early 2019 saw the release of the Om’Mas Keith-produced Darkness At Play project, which pulls no punches as she unflinchingly takes on the world’s woes, from the corrupt banking system and the reparation debate in France, to the migrant experience and the Israel Palestine conflict, all the while delicately delivering messages of hope and belonging. Conscious that the themes she tackles are too immense to bare on the macro level, she serenades us with simple truths in such a way that beauty can still be found in sorrow. Next comes her forthcoming debut album Zero, inspired by the mid-century European art movement of the same name, which used light and motion to explore new notions of perception. While Darkness is focused in spirit and sonic mood, Zero promises to be more playful and shine light on Anaïs’ wide-reaching tastes and preoccupations.

Here she speaks to Nataal on the subjects closest to her heart.

ON SENEGAL “When I was young and living in France, I’d go to Senegal every summer to see my dad and to visit my mother’s family in the village. I moved there for a year when I was 13 and attended an intense Muslim girls’ school. They called me ‘toubab’ — I was the white one, the French one. I couldn’t speak Wolof and felt excluded. I hardly visited again until I went to shoot ‘Nina’, which was a milestone. To be able to create art in Senegal meant so much to me… I’m just getting close to the artist community there now. There’s so much going on.”

ON HER EARLY

MUSICAL JOURNEY “I have always made music. Playing the violin, singing in choirs. I started songwriting during high school in Oakland. There was a girl called Antoinette who posted that she was creating a girl band. I think I was the only one who auditioned. I sang an Aaliyah song for her. We never ended up being a girl group, but we started buying beats online. It was super R&B. Then I got into gospel and soul music and rebelled against R&B because of everyone’s assumption that if you’re a black artist, that’s what you make. So, the first record had a pop edge, but now I’m starting to come back to R&B because I’m happy to embrace it and make it what it is for me.”

ON STUDYING AT NYU “Martin Gladwell’s book, Outliers, talks about the inherent advantages that we have and how we’re different from one another. When I was applying to NYU, I had friends in Oakland from lowincome families who were super talented, so I’d say ‘If I can get into NYU, you can too’. I wanted them to see the world the way I did, that it was okay to accumulate student debt because one day you will succeed and pay it off. But when I got there, I realised how privileged I was because I was perceived as French rather than black American. That rubbed me the wrong way. And living in Harlem and going to NYU Downtown was like being in two worlds too. The city gives you the illusion that we’re all together, but actually it’s segregated. I was one of the only women of colour in my class. But on a musical level, I learnt so much and appreciated collaborating with people from around the world.”

ON FINDING HER

FEET IN LONDON “London called me because there were so many incredible artists blossoming there. It’s a trendsetting place in music, so I had the illusion from over the pond that if you’re talented, and had something to say, nothing else matters. That’s not as true as I thought, but it is still a better place for young artists, and structures are in place to help you thrive. Things moved really fast initially and I had the opportunity to record an album within eight months.”

ON THE MOTIVATIONS

BEHIND DARKNESS AT PLAY “A lot of people want music to be escapism, to take them away from reality. But music can be a tool to empower, to make people aware of what’s happening and to feel able to do something about it. When I was writing this record I was very upset about the condition of the world. I was thinking about mass incarceration, capitalism, injustice and the environmental situation. The more I learned about the way the world functions, the more hopeless I felt. Then I tried to strike a balance between accepting that the world will always be

“Music can be a tool to empower people, to make them aware of what’s happening, and to feel able to do something about it”

unfair and finding a way for that to not ruin my life and my joy. We have to progress and grow. If people 400 years ago said nothing could change, we’d still be in chains. You have to fight for things to be better. A lot of that lies in community building — if you can be empathetic and create community, this can lead to progress. Darkness at Play is saying that we have to be more responsible, we have to do better and to care about the person next to us because we live in this world together.”

ON THE LEAD SINGLE, ‘WOMAN’ “I started thinking about the women in my life — my mum and my grandmother and what they have managed to accomplish, and my friends in Oakland whose fathers weren’t in the picture. I wanted to write a poem about these amazing women — their magic, their superpowers. I was also reading a lot of Angela Davis and Maya Angelou, and obviously I love Nina Simone, so it kept coming back to me that women are incredible. It wasn’t until after I fi nished the song that I realised it could also mean I’m accepting myself. I have to embrace my strengths and my flaws and not be afraid to love all of those things.”

ON THE CLOSING SONG,

‘NEVER BEEN HOME’ “London is the closest thing I have to a home because it’s the place where I’ve been able to do what I love. But nowhere has felt like home because I’ve moved so much, plus I’m a nomad at heart. This song is about my solitude and questioning my attachments. The words are a stream of consciousness and I recorded it in one take, which is very different to how I usually work. But for this one I just let my soul speak. There’s no true form to it, but it was important to have a song like this on the record because that’s how these kinds of thoughts form. They aren’t structured, they haunt you in dreams or in existential moments.”

ON DREAMING BIG “I don’t just make music for myself. I make music for people and I want it to be a healing tool. So if it is appreciated by others, that makes me feel like I’m doing something right and that’s very motivating. This time next year I hope I’ll be very close to releasing a second album, be touring all around the world and collaborating with other artists. I have big dreams. I don’t care about winning awards. For me, the value is in making music that touches people who believe in what you do.”

(Previous left) Anaïs wears BERTHOLD coat, ZARA trousers, HELEN LAWRENCE jumper, own jewellery. (Previous right) Anaïs wears BERTHOLD top, own jewellery. (Left) Anaïs wears stylist’s own vintage cotton pyjamas. Styling SARANNE WOODCROFT. Hair LAURAINE BAILEY. Make-up MIN SANDHU. Make-up MIN SANDHU at CAROL HAYES MANAGEMENT. Photography assistance FOLA ABATAN.