Anna Wise speaks out
The Kendrick Lamar collaborator and Sonnymoon singer breaks out on her own.
Photo credit: Amie Schow
In August 2015, music journalist Jessica Hopper posed a question on Twitter: “Gals/other marginalized folks: What was your 1st brush (in music industry, journalism, scene) w/ idea that you didn’t ‘count’?”
Hundreds of women responded with frighteningly similar accounts of sexism where male editors belittled the artistic integrity of writers, and musicians were told to suppress stories of sexual abuse so they could advance in their careers. Singer Anna Wise saw her own experiences reflected in the Twitter feed, saw the experiences of her female friends and colleagues, and saw the gross imbalance of power imbedded within every wrung of the music industry. She had to say something. “I was frustrated with the way I’ve been treated in my life as a woman and the ways I’ve witnessed women being treated in their lives,” Wise says. “There’s an underrepresentation and mistreatment of women that wasn’t being spoken about.”
She distilled her frustrations with a patriarchal complex by writing an EP brimming with the power of feminine agency. Titled The Feminine: Act 1, the succinct seven-track release clocks in at a little over 15 minutes, but Wise packs every second with an unassailable spirit, at once powerful and playful. Standout single “BitchSlut” leads with Wise spitting jagged verses behind a solitary snare hit before glossy vocal layers tower over a clatter of synthesized percussion. Lines such as “You think I wanna fuck cause I comb my hair/Cause I’m at the bar next to an open chair,” sink her teeth into the violently sexist behavior that’s followed her since she was a child. “The ‘BitchSlut’ story comes from when I was 11 years old, walking home from middle school and a truck full of men drove by and said profane shit like ‘I wanna fuck you. I wanna suck your pussy, you little slut,” she says. “I flipped them the bird and as I was walking away someone said, ‘Fuck you, bitch!”
While she primarily speaks to general sexist narratives, the visceral pain associated with her personal stories underscore every song, injecting her lyrics with the caustic honesty of experience. Wise uses her versatile songwriting talents to make The Feminine: Act 1 not just a formidable indictment on misogyny, but one that could easily ignite a dance floor. Instead of relegating herself to defeat, she offers her own vocal prowess as a means of subverting agony and celebrating inner strength.
On the surface, the glitchy percussion and technicolor synths on The Feminine: Act 1 belie the breadth of Wise’s influences. She cites everything from the impressionism of composer Claude Debussy to Nina Simone’s activism as an influence on her sound. The liner notes reveal an even deeper musical vocabulary as renowned jazz bassist Christian McBride plays bass on two tracks, “BitchSlut” and “Go.”
“I have a good amount of cool friendship with jazz musicians that serendipitously came about,” she says. “The other night I sat in with Robert Glasper, Taylor McFerrin, and Marcus Gilmore at the Blue Note.”
Wise’s singing is rooted in vocal jazz, stemming back from her time at Berklee College and other jazz institutions. On the track “Precious Possessions,” she sheds the trappings of academic jazz standards by using idiosyncratic vocal techniques, fluttering between soft-spoken pleas and angelic choruses. In the background, a nimble mix of bubbling electronics, atmospheric keyboards, and 808-inspired drums create a palette that manages to be delicate and propulsive.
After years of singing and writing as one half of the electronic duo Sonnymoon, Wise’s career trajectory changed overnight when Kendrick Lamar called her in to collaborate. Lamar features her warm, pillowy vocals on some of his most celebrated tracks, such as the dim melancholy of “Real” on Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, or the soulful harmonies on “These Walls” from To Pimp A Butterfly. Just as Lamar’s work favors a fluid blend of genres and histories, Wise’s solo work merges a scattershot of different sounds into a cohesive union. “That fusion of genres is what Sonnymoon is about, and what I think Anna Wise is about, so I think it was really natural for me to be in the studio with Kendrick,” she says. “People like him and bassist Esperanza Spalding have brought this love of music back into it as opposed to this forced lineage.”
In its music and message, The Feminine: Act 1 reveals Wise’s complexities. Just as the hundreds of Twitter replies to Jessica Hopper’s question can’t be reduced to a platitude or a soundbite, Wise’s life as a woman and an artist can’t be neatly compacted into a category. It can only be experienced.
[/atlanta/anna-wise-and-sonnymoon-rbts-win-10th-letter-and-dj-sets-from-thrice-groove/Event?oid=17223485|Anna Wise plays Aisle 5 on Fri., July 15. $12. 9:30 p.m. With RBTS Win, 10th Letter, and Thrice Groove. 1123 Euclid Ave. N.E. www.aisle5atl.com.]