Ana Roxanne - Because Of A Flower [LP]

Kranky

£24.28

Genre: Ambient
Format: LP
Catalogue No.: KRANK230LP
B/C: 796441823017
Release Date: 18 Feb 23 [back in]

The sublime songs comprising Los Angeles-based musician Ana Roxanne's second release, Because Of A Flower, germinated gradually across five years, inspired by interwoven notions of gender identity, beauty, and cruelty. She describes her process as beginning with “a drone element and a mood,” then intuiting melody, syllables, and lyrics incrementally, like sacred shapes materializing from mist.
The experience of identifying as intersex informs the album on levels both sonic and thematic, from spoken word texts borrowed from tonal harmony textbooks to cinematic dialogue samples and castrati aria allusions. It's an appropriately interstitial vision of ambient songcraft, a chemistry of wisps and whispers, sanctuary and sorrow, conjured through a fragile balance of voice, bass, space, and texture.
Despite a background studying at the prestigious Mills College in Oakland, Roxanne's music rarely feels conceptual, instead radiating an immediate and emotive aura, rooted in the present tense of her personal journey. She speaks of the flower in the title as a body, singular and sunlit, as many petals as thorns, an enigma beholden only to itself. But whether taken as surface or subtext, Because is a transfixing document of a rare artist in the spring of their ascension.

press quotes for previous release “~~~”:

“Intimate, life-affirming.” Resident Advisor

“Ana Roxanne exerts a gently intimate and singular spin on new age ambient tropes.” Boomkat

“The expansive sounds, the reflections of stillness in nature, her powerful voice, all converge to create a space for revelation and wonder.” Bandcamp Daily

“Ana Roxanne’s quiet soundscapes offer the promise of artisanship in an automated age.” Pitchfork

Tracklisting:
1. Untitled 2. A Study in Vastness 3. Suite Pour L’Invisible 4. - - - 5. Camille 6. Venus 7. Take the Thorn, Leave the Rose