Monday, April 23, 2007

ana laan 03/15/07

Of the 30+ shows that I saw at SXSW, Ana Laan had to take the prize for most gorgeous vocals.

Falling under the broad category of "World Music", Ana seamlessly incorporated Spanish and English vocals over carefully plucked guitars and the occasional keyboard part to create short stories that were posing as songs. Though I loved Ana's songs, I definitely think that the subject matter was more oriented towards the women in the crowd. In the words of my lovely bilingual girl (who undestood every word Ana sang) - "It's like she picked around my brain and wrote songs about what she found there!"

Bringing something new to every song, some of my favorite moments of the show revolved around "looping" vocals. Ana had two mics set up on stage - one was used for the main vocal parts - the other was plugged into a series of delay effects. Ana would sing a melody or riff and then "loop" it, she would then sing additional parts over the original part to create mini-Ana choirs of harmonies and counter-melodies. When she had built up a "bed" of vocals, she would switch back to the regular mic and sing over her creation.

Hailing from Spain, here's a little tidbit from her bio -

The startling, romantic voice of singer Ana Laan was born in Madrid and matured in Stockholm, Sweden. The daughter of a Spanish professor of literature and an American mother, Ana was raised in a home where learning was revered and multi-culturalism was the norm.

Ana Laan has learned to personalize the modern human condition in a very intimate way.