Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Ana Egge returns to the UK for four dates at the end of October. Egge released her 11th album in September and it’s being met with almost universal praise – our own reviewer, Steven Rafferty, said that “After twelve years, ten albums, and a sizeable pile of awards and accolades, Ana Egge isn’t hitting her stride – she’s grabbing another gear. The songs on ‘Is It the Kiss’, her 11th album, exhibit a mastery of the craft even as she continues to push the boundaries of her own abilities as a songwriter.”
Egge grew up with parents who “dropped out,” choosing to raise four girls in a lovingly cobbled together combination of a small farmhouse on the North Dakota plains, a bus on the California Coast, and a hot springs commune in rural New Mexico.
The new album is helmed by arranger/producer/instrumentalist Alec Spiegelman, while pedal steel guitar is represented by Matt Davidson, fiddle by Alex Hargreaves, and an all-star rhythm section is comprised of Jacob Silver and Robin Macmillan.
Of the songwriting process for her latest album, Egge says: “I wrote these songs in a bit of a fever. They came into being all in a rush. My wife and I have a five-year-old daughter and in many of the demos I made while writing these songs you can hear her and her friend running through the hallway, playing with their dolls. There’s been a change in me in the past two years. And in many people I know. There’s an uneasiness and a deeper need for connection. I’ve also felt the shift in my audience. People are listening like they never have before. I too am listening. Like I never have before. That’s where these songs come from.”
Ana Egge 2018 UK Tour dates:
MON 28 OCTOBER – The Kitchen Garden Cafe, Birmingham
WED 30 OCTOBER – Green Note, Camden
SAT 02 NOVEMBER – Ana Egge At The Secret Music Club, Sakala, Steyning
MON 04 NOVEMBER – The Greys, Brighton