Norway has given birth to some of the best artists in electronic/ambient music. What's even more curious is a handful of them are from Bergen, including Annie herself, Kings of Convenience and Royksopp (who she's worked with).
Having a lengthy history in her local scene, over the past few years Annie has come into her own, bringing her own creatvity and talents to the now exposed ears of the world. The frank and down to earth DJ/singer quite nicely took some time out of her busy schedule to speak with MVRemix.
MVRemix: What do you feel is the biggest mis-conception people have of you?
Annie: I don't know. To be honest I don't really know what people think about me. [chuckles] I have no idea. Well maybe they compare me to strange people like Britney Spears and that's pretty wrong. That's all I can say, [chuckles] I don't know. They also write sometimes that I'm Swedish, and I'm not, I'm Norwegian - so that's a big mis-understanding.
MVRemix: You've got a pretty big celebrity status in Norway. What would you say has been the funniest or stupidest story you've read about yourself?
Annie: The stupidest story... [ponders] It's written quite a lot... I'm sometimes coming in all these magazines, celebrity magazines, where it sort of says the best perfumes people like and stuff. I remember there was a whole page about how I love the "Eternity" Calvin Klein perfume a couple of months ago and I never said I was wearing that perfume. So I went like, "Oh, okay - that's supposed to be my favourite." These sort of things happen occassionally, and then of course people always want to know and write things sort of who you've been seeing and all that sort of stuff. So yeah... [chuckles]
MVRemix: What prompted you to first create music? What was the specific situation
where you sat down and wrote or planned out your first song?
Annie: I think the very first song I made, it was writing when I was about 15 or something. I'm actually coming out now with a song called "Crush," which I wrote when I was 16. That's coming out either this month or next month on an American label called Dim Mak. But I didn't actually start the "Annie" project... I started writing music much before that so I was sort of writing songs before I started to perform or make any music.
MVRemix: What's your creative process? Is it focused or spontaneous?
Annie: I always start with a melody first, then I write the lyrics afterwards. But I also usually have an idea for how I want the production to be in some way. Like how I want the bass to sound like, the drums and so on... But I usually always start with a melody.
MVRemix: Which record can you not live without DJ'ing in a set?
Annie: I usually always play something by ESG. There's a song by ESG called "My Love For You," I usually always play that. I'm a huge fan by ESG and I think they've been making some of my favourite music ever.
MVRemix: Which movie has influenced you the most?
Annie: I think that one of my favourite movies must be a film called "Wicker Man," which is either Irish or English, I'm not sure. It's from the '60's and is sort of a cult movie. I think that's great. So much good music in it. Quite a mad movie.
MVRemix: A la "Fight Club," "If you could fight any celebrity, who would you fight?"
Annie: Well I actually have a green belt in Karate. I guess I could fight pretty well. I don't fight very often to be honest. [ponders] Let me think... I guess I could fight Hillary duff pretty well. [chuckles]
MVRemix: Do you reckon you'd win?
Annie: I don't know her that well, but as I said, I have a green belt in Karate. So I would have some sort of chance to win. I don't really like to fight, to be honest.
MVRemix: What are you currently working on musically?
Annie: Actually, I was working on a song the second you called. I'm working on my next album. I'm sort of sitting down, writing songs and making melodies. I'm going to the US to perform at South by South West and then I'm gonna spend two weeks in the studio in New York. So I'm gonna be there and do some new recordings, but I hope to finish the album by the end of the autumn.
MVRemix: Do you have any interesting collaborations in the works?
Annie: Yeah, there might be some. But I'm not gonna mention anybody right now because it's not like 110% confirmed. I'm in contact with a lot of great producers and people so i think it's gonna be an interesting and an interesting year.
MVRemix: Which genre or artist hashad the most influence on your music that maybe your audience wouldn't expect?
Annie: I think it's pretty many artists because I'm listening to so much different, different music. I actually listen to some pretty weird noise stuff [laughs] occasionally. I guess people wouldn't really expect me to do that. I also really like this band called Can, I think that's great and I love a lot of rock stuff. These days I listen to mostly just Song, that's a Japanese guy who I'm a big, big fan of. It's a big inspiration to me to listen to him. Even if my music sounds pretty different.
MVRemix: Any last words?
Annie: [Fans] should check out the new song "Crush" and there probably will be some more Annie singles out later this year, they should look out for that.
