On a short tour of west coast wineries in the summer of 2019, Anya Marina and friend /collaborator/artist/ tour mate Eric Hutchinson were talking about working together again. Eric had witnessed Anya’s entertaining and captivating live show many times on the road and suggested she record a live album in New York City and let him produce. The result is a 17-track collection of songs (and their entertaining, accompanying back-stories) spanning Anya’s entire catalog. (Songs include “Clean & Sober” from her debut Miss Halfway, Move You from her Atlantic Records release Slow and Steady Seduction: Phase II, Notice Me off Felony Flats, Go To Bed and Shut Up from Paper Plane, and—at the time of recording— as-yet-unheard songs from her latest LP Queen of the Night.)
Anya Marina: Live and Alone in New York was recorded solo, live and uninterrupted over two nights at Rockwood Music Hall on the lower east side in New York City, December 2019. On this sparse and entertaining release, Marina expertly toggles between her acoustic and electric guitar and a grand piano (for a moody and edited cover of Taylor Swift’s The Man).
Little did Hutchinson or Marina know that this performance would be Anya’s last in the city she had called home for 8 years—a worldwide pandemic was imminent. Within a few months, Anya would pack up and move from her beloved New York City apartment where she had lived for eight years and head two hours north, settling in the mid-Hudson Valley with her boyfriend, singer/songwriter Matt Pond (of Matt Pond PA) and their dog.
Glide is thrilled to premiere in its entirety Anya Marina: Live and Alone in New York(below) a candid and infectiously charming snapshot of this artist’s dexterous take on indie-folk. Marina has a witty and approachable song presentation that is reminiscent of the heartfelt works of Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker. On this revealing and confessional song set, you’re inclined to enter part reality show, part comedy performance and part singer-songwriter brilliance. Read on below for Marinas take on the album and
I think I was mid-tour with Eric Hutchinson and he asked me why, after all these years of playing songs and telling stories on stage, why I had not yet recorded a solo, live album. He suggested the title Anya Marina: Live and Alone in New York, the double entendre of which made me laugh. It was true—it would be a solo album—but also it kind of nailed my experience as an independent artist, supporting myself without a label for many years now, in the big city.
I took him up on his generous offer of producing the album and we handpicked songs and song intros—he had heard dozens of stories over the years of touring together and watching each other’s shows—so I trusted him to tell me which were strongest.
I’m so glad I made this record. I wanted it to sound real and raw and unpolished—a snapshot of this time in my life, having completed four full-length albums and many EPs, on my way toward releasing a 5th. In fact a few of the songs on this record are from my latest, Queen of the Night, which I released many months later in Sept of 2020.
Probably the most special thing about this is that I had absolutely no idea this show would be my last in-person solo show at my neighborhood club (Rockwood Music Hall, stage 3, where I had been playing quite often). It was recorded in December of 2019 and then in January of 2020 I was on the road with Nikki Glaser, playing theaters across the U.S. Then, as we all know, the lockdown happened in March. Here we are in 2021 and in-person shows in venues—with an actual audience–are still not happening.
Having this recording is almost like having a time capsule of a simpler time, where 30-40 people were just hanging out on the lower east side and having some drinks and listening to a woman talk and sing about love.
Photos by Shervin Lainez
