Release I: What if
“The story begins with a person who has no gender, it's simply a person. And as the story continues, it tells us that this person without gender observes everything that happens seated on a park bench.
Sorry I didn't introduce myself before, I'm the narrator. And this one here is my persona, although now that you are here too I would rather say that it is our persona..."
AnnaOtta’s first release „What if” is based on philosophical talks about persona, an abstract core in everybody’s character. It is the soundtrack of modern emancipated women in which risk, curiosity and self-determination stand in the center.
The two singers put content over form and allow the improvised tracks to be imperfect, odd in form and cross-border in musical styles. „What if” is an electronic yet very organic EP since all sounds originate from Jenny Thiele’s and Irene Novoa’s voices.
The songs were recorded on two tracks and in one take, in an improvised session in Madrid, October 2018. They were afterwards edited, produced and mixed by Jenny Thiele and Irene Novoa.
Published in collaboration with the experimental/noise label Econore on the 18th of December 2020, available in all digital platforms and cassette.
Release II: This wasn't real
“...It is an exceptional case to find this type of persona, very few have had the opportunity that we now have, it is perhaps an opportunity that occurs only once in a lifetime.
- “These beings seem to have very complex thoughts, but I don't get where they are heading” - persona thinks
The person stops and leans its head back. It looks at the sky and reaches for a bag. In a harmonious combination of movements it looks down and we see a black umbrella appear. Persona opens it and places the umbrella delicately in a perfect straight line parallel to its body. An instant later it starts to rain.”
„This wasn't real” is the continuation of the first AnnaOtta album „What If”. It continues to tell the short story of "persona", which explores the subject of identity from a non-binary point of view. The album emphasizes the extreme moods and abstract quality of AnnaOtta's music.
For this album the duo developed original sample based synths built up from their voices as well as from snippets of other original AnnaOtta songs as an addition to their improvised pieces.
The production is focused on enhancing the different musical styles of the songs, which range from Techno to Ambient and EDM music. The album dives fluidly into different genres and explores the annaottesque touch of humor, abstraction and emotionality in them.
The songs were recorded on two tracks and in one take, in an improvised session in Madrid, October 2018. Papopeo, Organ and I don't know were improvised again and recorded in separate tracks in Madrid, January 2020. They were afterwards edited, produced and mixed by Jenny Thiele and Irene Novoa.
Published in collaboration with the experimental/noise label Econore on the 1st of October 2021, available on all digital platforms and cassette.
