Concert Review: Anna Wise’s Music FEELS like Wisdom
The insane delight of an Anna Wise show is that it feels like music in slow-motion. It is like slowing down a Coltrane record to let every chord drip and drop like jewels from a rhythmic sky. Usually, slowness makes me anxious. After all, I am a native New Yorker; half the time we are rushing somewhere without any idea of the location. We were born going, but Anna Wise lives in the “Stop.” At Le Poisson Rouge, her music was the equivalent to actually pausing from your rushed stroll and smelling the roses.
My favorite part of her show is when she goes over to her mix-board and sings over it while making her beats. She hovers over it as if it bound to her by a secret, umbilical chord. It gives her sustenance and power. She is both protective and loving towards the rhythms she makes, which explains why she constantly smiles or quips with her band-mates. For her, making music is like winning the lotto; it is a treasured luck that binds you to the few people that have won. They were winning.
Anna Wise “What’s Up With You?” Live at Electric Garden
Wise does no talk much to the crowd. Instead, she coos and riffs over songs that felt like tiny movies. They could go for minutes in instrumental suites that left her closing her eyes and dreaming. She is passionate about her sound, even when it is small, tender, and fuzzed like a little duckling in her grasp. Sure, the image may seem cute, but it is also beautiful to see when human beings care for someone “weaker” than them; when they choose to love someone that, by all means, they could destroy.
Anna Wise – Nerve! (Official Audio)
Wise’s music promotes love as a choice, and you should feel like a real jerk if you don’t choose it. Yes, love is not easy. Letting someone get to know you is like giving someone a text-book guide to your soul. They know your history, your moves, and could weaponize or warm up to both. Yet, when it works, it is magic, and Wise’s music captured that. She is ornately controlled; grabbing her voice like a pen and writing her signature within you through her love songs. For More Information On Anna Wise Click Here.
