I'm so excited to share my new song this week - I started writing it on Thursday and have been living in a dreamworld since then, finishing it.  I've forsaken my initial idea to just do iPhone recordings - there was too much fun to be had with multi-tracking so I got fancy and did it in Protools.  This is the first time I've added flute to any of my songs, fun!  

I just finished reading a really lovely non-fiction by Rebecca Solnit called Wanderlust, about the history and culture of walking.  There was a chapter on walking as performance art, and a passage about an artist called Marina Abramovic caught my eye.  She made a pair of shoes from amethyst, intended for meditation; all I knew is that I had to write a song about it.  I even challenged myself not to google image search her "Shoes for Departure" before I had a good idea of my lyrics. 

Week 2: Amethyst Shoes

Hello friends,
This week's effort is a little ditty called 'Carried by the Breeze'.  As with a lot of my songs, the guitar part came first, and suggested a feeling of effortlessness.  Lyrics were reasonably obliging and the song shaped itself to be about the kind of person/people who seem to float through life, happily and successfully without ever seeming to have to make important decisions.   A hint of envy, a hint of awe.  A whole lot of fiction, perhaps.  Anyway, here it is!

I watched you close your hand

On a seed carried by the breeze

I wondered how it all comes

So effortlessly

Ebb and flow

You come and go

Wax and wane

Oh your song is still the same

Oh, to live life as a dance

Like a leaf carried on a stream

In harmony with everything you see

Oh you are living in a dream

And all that you need

Seems to fall right into your hands

You say you don't know what you want

But the next day you've got it planned

Cos it's easy

Ebb and flow

You come and go

Wax and wane
Oh your song is still the same
I watched you close your hand
On a seed carried by the breeze

PS - is there anyone out there in Salem, Oregon?  I'm playing my first ever show there on Saturday June 7th at the Triangle Inn... come and say hello if you're in the area!  I'll be sharing the show with Patrick Joseph, on tour from LA.

Week 8: Carried By The Breeze

Turning of the Year - single release 18.4.24
Old Light - album release 5.9.24

Turning of the Year is the lead single from Anne-Marie Sanderson’s forthcoming debut album, Old Light. Six years on from her last release, the EP ‘Book Songs Vol. 1’, Sanderson opens a new chapter by offering both an invitation and a manifesto: ‘It’s time to set a new intention, focus our attention / Follow this breath to its full potential…’.
 
In an age where attention is spread thin and our focus seems constantly blurred by peripheral darkness, Sanderson’s songs seek out glimmers of hope and create space for them to shine. Appreciation of seemingly inconsequential things fuels her musical creativity, yet her songs often hint at the bigger picture, at once thought-provoking and uplifting. These elements of her songwriting are showcased with confident clarity in this new album.
 
Due out in September 2024, Old Light promises to be well worth the wait. In addition to being Sanderson’s first full-length album, it will be both musically and thematically her most diverse release yet, with a mix of brand new songs alongside previously unreleased material written over a decade ago. Touching on themes of nature, personal growth, and ancestral wisdom, the album is also rich in musical scope, paying homage to diverse influences from folk, pop and jazz. The end result is an original, organic sound, unmistakably Anne-Marie’s own; a signature sound crafted with care in her home studio, where she took on the roles of multi-instrumentalist, arranger, recording engineer and producer.
  
Combining deft guitar work with imaginative vocal melodies, Sanderson’s delivery combines a heartfelt tenderness with a sense of purpose. There is an understated authority to her work and an irresistible inevitability to its emotional momentum. Lush string and woodwind textures create a dreamy and expansive sound world, while her lyrics and voice strike the beautiful balance of expressing emotional complexity with grace and simplicity. Each note and every word is significant, an essential part of the greater whole. Or to borrow from the album’s soulful second single If, ‘everything has got its right place / everything has got its right time / and everything has got a balance / and everything will work out fine.’

Turning Of The Year

Season's Greetings to you!

To celebrate the holidays, here is my new arrangement of Silent Night. It is available to download from annemariesanderson.bandcamp.com/track/silent-night
All proceeds during December 2014 will go to Amnesty International.

Watch the accompanying video here: youtu.be/RF5KlT6z7rs

Learn more about Amnesty International here: www.amnestyusa.org/

Thanks for listening - stay tuned for my new EP coming in early 2015!

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child
Holy infant, so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night
Shepherds first saw the sight
Heard the angel song alleluia
Loud proclaiming near and far
Christ the saviour is here

Alleluia
Silent night, holy night
Sleep in heavenly peace

Credits:
Released 01 December 2014
Arranged, performed and recorded by Anne-Marie Sanderson
Mixed by Erin Stephens


Silent Night

Anne-Marie Sanderson is a British singer-songwriter, currently living in Portland, Oregon.  Her new EP, Shadows & Sparks is out on Feb 3rd 2015, with a release show at the Alberta Street Pub on Feb 5th.

Anne-Marie Sanderson - vocals & guitar
Mirabai Peart - violin
Anna Fritz - cello
Erin Stephens - percussion

All songs written and arranged by Anne-Marie Sanderson
Recorded by Josh Powell at the Map Room
Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk

Shadows & Sparks

Anne-Marie Sanderson is a British singer-songwriter, currently living in Portland, Oregon.  Her new EP, Shadows & Sparks is due for release in early 2015.  Anne-Marie's 2013 EP, Eloquence, received glowing reviews on both sides of the Atlantic, gaining recognition in equal measure for her well-crafted songs, innovative guitar playing, and her enchanting vocal stylings.  Following in the tradition of timeless singer-songwriters, her music is often compared to that of Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake, but fans and critics alike recognize that Anne-Marie Sanderson is all her own.

Lilac Time

Here's my cover of Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry".  

Voices Carry (Til Tuesday cover)

If I were a Robin, this would be my Christmas single in Birdland. Sadly, I am not a Robin, but here is my humble seasonal offering to you. I hope it brings you some light and joy in these dark days of Winter 2016.

We keep ourselves to ourselves
We don't need anyone but us
We will keep the winter out
In this nest of twigs and moss

We puff our feathers up
We are ready for the cold
We don't need the twinkling lights
Or the bells of silver or gold

And no matter what's going on out there
We will keep on singing
We will keep on singing, singing

We pluck the berry from the branch
We don't take more than we can carry
Our festive fare's a simple thing
From the noble holly tree

And no matter what's going on out there
We will keep on singing
We will keep on singing, singing
No matter what's going on out there
We will keep on singing
We will keep on singing, singing

We keep ourselves to ourselves
We don't need anyone but us
We will keep the winter out
In this nest of twigs and moss

Robin Song

Something about listening to Kate Bush's "50 Words for Snow" sent me on a bit of a nostalgia rush to 'The Snowman'. After looking it up on YouTube and watching the amazing flight scene again for the first time in years, I had the song in my head all night. So I picked up my guitar, and this happened. It was a bit of a whim, but here you go, something for the festive season.

Words and music: Howard Blake
From Raymond Briggs' "The Snowman"
Arranged, performed and recorded by Anne-Marie Sanderson



Walking in the Air (from "The Snowman")

{ Watch the lyric video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL15vLCwzVY }

It's taken me a while to process what's happened and what could happen as a result of November's election. For quite some time I, like so many others, was shocked beyond belief, lost for words, lost in despair. But sometimes inspiration and hope pop up from the unlikeliest of places. In her eloquent Golden Globe acceptance speech (the one where she slams Trump without ever saying his name), Meryl Streep quoted the immortal wisdom of Carrie Fisher: "Take your broken heart and make it into art." Such a simple turn of phrase, almost cliche, and yet it resonated so strongly with me. So, that's what I decided to do. Although I wasn't able to take to the streets in protest this past weekend, this song and video are my own response to Trump's inauguration and the looming shadow of his presidency. This is my first (and perhaps not my last) protest song.

Red Giant

A live recording of my song "Poisonwood". The song is inspired by Barbara Kingsolver's novel "The Poisonwood Bible", and will be on my new EP, due for release in 2018.

Poisonwood {Live in Grasmere}

"Holloway" is the opening track from my new EP, "Book Songs Vol. 1". The EP is a collection of songs inspired by books that I have read and loved and been inspired and enriched by. "Holloway" takes its inspiration from the book of the same name by Robert Macfarlane, Stanley Donwood and Dan Richards.

Holloway

Tune in to BBC Radio 3 at 9:30pm (UK time) on Saturday 16th June to hear this song on Between the Ears: The Houses that Fall into the Sea.


Because these are the times that we live in
When the frothing white waves come lapping at your door
Hungry, hungry for more.
And we build things up, just to watch them fall,
'cos we're hungry, we're hungry for more.

www.kanecunningham.co.uk


Kane Cunningham (The Times That We Live In)

Eloguence EP - Track 4

Lyrics:

I found a secret world
At the bottom of the orchard, late afternoon
Blackberry juice stains my shirt, it stains my skin
I found a river and I wade right in
Are you following me?
Are you following me?
With those endless, endless eyes
Endless, endless -

I found a secret world
At the bottom of the orchard, late afternoon
Black dragonflies, in my hair, and round my eyes
The cooling river around my thighs
Are you following me?
Are you following me?
With those endless, endless eyes
Endless, endless eyes

And if you are...
Yeah if you are
Then come on in
Come on in

I found a secret world
At the bottom of the orchard, late afternoon
Late afternoon... late afternoon


Endless Eyes

Singer-songwriter (etc) in Cumbria.

Anne-Marie Sanderson opens a new chapter with her new single, Turning of the Year, offering both an invitation and a manifesto: ‘It’s time to set a new intention, focus our attention / Follow this breath to its full potential...’.

Old Light, her forthcoming debut album [5 Sep 24] promises to be well worth the wait.  Touching on themes of nature, personal growth, and ancestral wisdom, the album is also rich in musical scope, paying homage to diverse influences from folk, pop and jazz. The end result is a signature sound crafted with care in Anne-Marie’s home studio, where she took on the roles of multi-instrumentalist, arranger, recording engineer and producer.

In an age where attention is spread thin and our focus seems constantly blurred by peripheral darkness, Sanderson’s songs seek out glimmers of hope and create space for them to shine. There is an understated authority to her work and an irresistible inevitability to its emotional momentum. Each note and every word is significant, an essential part of the greater whole. Or to borrow from the album’s soulful second single If, ‘everything has got its right place / everything has got its right time / and everything has got a balance / and everything will work out fine.’

"a gloriously wide vista of astonishing grown-up tales which both fascinate and delight – the overall result, complex and immersive, is mesmerising... A bold, unusual and most beautifully constructed body of work." - Tap the Feed Magazine (2018)

Anne-Marie Sanderson

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