"Towards the end of Tether, there is a song called Silk and Velvet; its sound is characteristic of Annahstasia's debut album. Fingerpicked acoustic guitar and her extraordinary vocals husky, expressive, elegant are front and centre. The arrangement is subtle but not drearily tasteful: arching noise that could be feedback or a distorted pedal steel guitar, which gradually swells into something climactic before dying away."
"The lyrics, meanwhile, concern themselves with selling out: Maybe I'm an analyst, an antisocial bitch, she sings. Who sells her dreams for money. It's a topic that speaks to Annahstasia's turbulent music industry history: signed at 17 to a label that tried to mould her into a mainstream pop star, she quit and pursued a more singular vision. Tether acts as vindication, announcing the arrival of a strikingly unique voice."
"These are superbly written, remarkably moving songs, delivered by a singer who knows exactly how to use her vocals to cut the listener deep: when to exercise restraint, when to express halting uncertainty, when to let fly with impassioned vibrato. The result is an album that feels intimate and revealing: the kind you don't so much listen to as enter into a relationship with."
Silk and Velvet, late on Tether, centers fingerpicked acoustic guitar and Annahstasia's husky, expressive, elegant vocals, with a subtle arrangement that includes arching noise swelling into a climax. Lyrics confront selling out with lines that evoke someone who sells her dreams for money, tied to a history of being signed at 17 to a label that tried to mould her into a mainstream pop star before she quit to pursue a singular vision. Tether functions as vindication, shifting from seductive soul to raging alt-rock while retaining a distinctive, consistent character and intimate, revealing delivery.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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