Australian Multi-Instrumentalist Annie Bass Announces Debut EP

Melbourne, Australia-based multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Annie Bass just released her exquisite new single, "In Your Arms". The cut premiered on Australia's triple j and is the opening track from her forthcoming, long-awaited debut EP titled Control set for digital release May 10 via Opulent/Mushroom.

Annie wrote and recorded 'In Your Arms' between Sydney, Melbourne and Los Angeles, teaming up LA-based rising star Kito (Jorja Smith, Mabel) in the production chair. The track was mixed by John Lee (Laura Jean, Beaches) and mastered by Matt Colton (FKA Twigs, Four Tet). The track is accompanied by an animation via NYC-based artist Jonah Ainslie.

"There are people in your life who are always there to pick up the pieces, to put you back together. For me that is my sister," Annie explains of the track. "I was going through a very dark time in my life, everything around me seemed to be falling apart. One night just like any other it all seemed to be too much, and whatever it was she could feel it too. In that moment she said to me over the phone "just so you know, you're not alone". I knew she was afraid, and I wrote this chorus that same night as a promise to her, I can still remember sitting in my tiny Surry Hills bedroom singing it for hours."

"In Your Arms" follows the equally superb "Don't Worry" from December 2018, Annie's acclaimed solo single "Don't Want" from 2017 and her two-track collaborative release with Christopher Port Thrown Away/Counting All. The two tracks will sit on the 6-track Control EP which will be the first release in a partnership between Opulent and the Mushroom Group.

Drawing inspiration from Nina Simone, John Coltrane, James Blake and Portishead, the songs that make up Control have an intimacy that is both intensely private and impossibly inviting. The production, chiefly by Kito with additional work from Melbourne's Sam Gill (Ara Koufax), is understated and spacious, allowing the purity of Annie Bass' voice, and the unflinching emotional honesty of her lyrics, to shine.

On Control, Annie addresses some intense and deeply private themes including assault, mental illness and self-destructive behaviour. Each track is a chapter or glimpse into matters Annie has been brave enough not to shy away from that cut so close to home. "'Control' was written when I felt alone, and writing music was the only contribution I had to give to myself or anyone else," she says. "When you're in that lonely place it doesn't matter who loves you, or if you love yourself. But I still needed to write and make music. For a long time it was really the only thing I had."

"In Your Arms" is out now and Control is available for digital pre-order and pre-save here: http://smarturl.it/AnnieBassControl.

Photo credit: Daisy Clementine

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