Looking back on her fascinating but uneven back catalog, it struck methat the pixie-ish, world-weary chanteuse known as Little Annie "Anxiety" Bandez has pretty much always been at themercy of her producers. Throughout her career, the one constant hasbeen Annie's voice—that smoky, Marianne Faithful drawl andsardonic, campy delivery—but the sound settings in which her vocalshave been placed have been wildly variable, depending upon the producer.Durtro Jnana
Penny Rimbaud's approach was to weave a ragged punk collage of dirtymusique concrete and industrial noise to match Annie's apocalyptic beatpoetry. Adrian Sherwood took the On-U-Sound approach to a new level forMs. Anxiety, placing her brutal and pithy hysterics amidst a baffling,complex network of techno and dub mutations, bursts of noise andunexpected audio collisions. Guest spots on other artists' workproduced varied results, but Annie often still sounded lost inhostile surroundings, with the notable exception of her hilariously disturbingmonologue on Coil's "Things Happen" from Love's Secret Domain.
Starting in the mid-'90s, Annie's new team of collaborators andproducers put the singer on more solid, less experimental footing. Can"Khan" Oral and Kid Congo Powers of Gun Club sexed it up and camped itup for their Legally Jammin' releases. Larry "Electroclash" Tee andJoseph Budenholzer used traditional instruments to cushion Annie'sincreasingly more understated vocals, lending the singer asophisticated, downtown NYC jazz-room feel. This new album, Songs From the Coal Mine Canarytravels down this same path, with sophisticated jazz ensemblearrangements for every track, placing Annie's voice front and center,with all of its wounded imperfections and evocativeness intact.
A sticker proudly proclaims "Produced by Antony," perhaps trying to catch the eyeto Mr. Hegarty's newfound legion of rabid fans for album sales, asLittle Annie herself remains unjustly obscure. To be fair, this isn'tjust a cynical sales tactic, as Antony's presence is felt throughoutthe album, which features his piano playing, backup vocals, andsongwriting skills on several tracks. The tracks that Antonyco-wrote with Annie, especially "Absynthtee-ism" and "If I Were a Man,"have very much the same quiet torch song vibe familiar from Antonyand the Johnsons material, but the spotlight here belongs to Annie.This is simultaneously the album's biggest weakness and its greateststrength. Those who don't connect with Annie's subtly disarming lyricsor her savvy, time-ravaged vocals might find the album a bit slight.It's probably true that songwriting has never been Annie's strength,and though she is bolstered here by very talented collaborators, therearen't really any showstoppers on the album. Attentive fans willeven notice some repetition, a couple of songs that are reworked frompast releases.
But that's not the whole story, as Songs From the Coal Mine Canaryis much more than just the sum of its parts. There is something aboutthe way in which the introspective love ballad "Diamonds Made ofGlassine" merges with the dark, Angelo Badalementi-style jazz backingthat makes it sound like liquid city moonlight poured into a cocktailglass. The upbeat but devastatingly apocalyptic "End Is Near" explodesinto being and careens towards a thrilling Nine Simone-styleconclusion, with Annie giving an impassioned vocal performance, toughfor a singer who can't help but sound languorous and tossed-off. Thereare moments that hint at the scathing punk screeds of her past, butmostly this is a mature, sophisticated Annie, an impossibly coolcharacter, a lady of the evening haunting an out-of-the-way gay bar inNYC, filling everyone's ears with stories of past exploits and bitterregrets.
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