Annis

Annis is currently working in the studio on her new album & the release is set for the Fall 2010. She's very excited about the new album & describes it as dark & fateful. Heartrending & honest.
Her music career started in 1994 when she moved to Malung in Dalarna to study. As a little girl she used to play the piano & violin but for some strange reason she quit. But in Malung once again, the interest in music began to awake in her. Annis then borrowed her mother's guitar, purchased a book with basic guitar chords and during one weekend wrote her first song.
To earn some extra money, she worked at a hotel as a waitress & bartender. It was there at a closed party she picked up a guitar & just started to sing. It was an immediate success & everybody told her that she had to sing country because of "the sound in her voice". Like Forrest Gump, Annis responded - Well, I can do that. And even though she never listened to country music before, she found herself booked at a country festival. Someone told her about a great artist called Emmylou Harris & Annis bought some of Emmylou's records. That was the beginning of a lifelong inspiration.
The following years Annis made her living travelling around Sweden & Norway doing what she loves most, performing.
In the fall of 2004 she met Bert Karlsson, the founder of Mariann, a Swedish record company. That meeting resulted in the release of the single "One Suitcase" in May 2005.
It was frequently played on Swedish national radio station's P4 & P5.It hit 1 at the "Pop i topp" chart for several weeks. Later that year "One suitcase" was one of the songs of the compilation cd "Absolute Women".
In 2006 Annis moved to Stockholm. She gathered up with some wonderful musicians & it was love at first sight. It was at this time that she first felt completely at home with the music she was performing. She then started to co-write with the most talented Aleena Gibson & later that year with the fantastic Jörgen Kjellgren from Oh Laura.
During the spring of 2007 the dream of making an album was finally becoming a reality. Her band was supporting her & she had heard some of Henrik Åström's. productions (Miss Li, Oh Laura) and she liked his way of thinking. In march they entered the studio for a couple of days and recorded drums & bass live. After that Robin & Annis worked with the guitars and vocals. During that period Annis invited a woman with an amazing voice, Titiyo, to the studio. It ended up with some really cool, breathtaking harmonies with one of the songs.
Douglas Unger with his wonderful, raspy voice is also appearing in two of the songs.
The debut album "If it's a dead fish, it's a dead fish" was released January 21st 2009.
Reviews:
Peter Dahlén Skiva.se
."Annis Brander är en bländande stor liten sångfågel"
."upptäckte Emmylou Harris. Det var tur att någon tipsade henne om just countryn för det är bland annat där hennes fantastiska stämband hör hemma. När det låter sådär avskalat, med endast en varm akustisk bakgrund från den egna gitarren, då kommer den personliga rösten till sin fulla rätt. Då är det magiskt - jag har själv varit på plats och upplevt det med egna öron"…
."en handfull helt egna, riktigt bra kompositioner däribland inledande Sound of Nothing liksom genombrottsnumret och vackraste låten Broken Dreams".
Maria Lagergréen KIM
."Hennes röst har precis den där lite hesa, aviga rösten som passar så bra i kombination med en gitarr och trummor med lite driv i.".
Louise Voll Ercolino Solo
."Annis sköna röst vill vi gärna höra mer av i framtiden".
Timo Kangas Lira
."Sound of nothing har en skönt ödslig ton som någonstans faktiskt får mig att tänka på Di Leva, även om den musikaliska inramningen naturligtvis är mer åt Emmylou Harris och en lugn Lucinda Williams.
One suitcase har mer av en mogenrockradio-touch, med lena stämmor som hämtade från Fleetwood Mac, stöttande en röst som minner om en Maria McKee utan behov av några starka medikamenter.".
Anders Tapola Smålandsposten
Annis överraskar
."Titeln är märklig, men ändå på något sätt enkelt smart. Med en varm och lite nasal röst låter Annis lite grann som Buffy Sainte-Marie. Fast utan hennes politiska budskap. Eller som Emmylou Harris. Fast Annis Brander är inte ens från USA, utan från Baljered i Västergötland. Hon började skriva låtar väldigt tidigt. Och nu är hennes debutalbum ute. Det är ett överraskande bra sådant. En av gästerna är för övrigt Titiyo. Och jag tror att Annis kan gå mycket långt i en genre som börjar bli ganska trång nu.".
Lars Thulin Ystads Allehanda
"Annis Brander började skriva låtar innan hon ens skaffat sig en musiksmak. Om det inte låter som låtskrivarhandbokens gängse ABC, så minns att man kan nå uppfriskande resultat om man dumpar regelboken. Och det kan förklara varför Annis korsat väg med så skilda entiteter som Bert Karlsson och Titiyo."