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11 March 2024

Every Monday I will be bringing you an interview with an independent band, duo or music artist. This week, I caught up with Hereford artist Anya Pailthorpe to find out more…

Where are you from and how did you first get into music?
I was born in Bristol, but mostly grew up in Herefordshire. I’ve always been passionate about music, songwriting in particular, and can remember even as a small child writing little songs to share with my mum or my close friends. This was strengthened when I got my first guitar, at around 11 years old, as I could then accompany myself, and I started taking songwriting much more seriously when I was about 14.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
As a young teen I used to listen to a lot of Dodie and Maisie Peters, back when they were mostly on YouTube, and I think that influenced my style a lot. Nowadays I listen to a lot of Hozier, Laura Marling, and Toby Johnson, and lots of folky acoustic kinda stuff.

How would you describe your sound?
Indie-Folk Singer-Songwriter.

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
My latest release is called Mother, and I wrote it as a reflection of myself in the beautiful, intense, loving and vulnerable relationship that is between a mother and daughter. There is so much closeness, so much love, that it’s sometimes too much. I can get defensive and lash out. I spoke to a friend, whilst in the process of writing, and she said it resonated so much with her too – it seems to be something most people experience, and hold so much guilt over because we just don’t talk about it… So I wrote it into a song.

What’s your local music scene like?
The word that comes to mind is cosy. Hereford is a small city, but even still there is a lot of talent here, and some really sweet venues too. So the music scene is small and familiar, with a few really appreciated venues doing a lot to support it.

What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
I’m currently working on an album, to be released in the next few months, though the specific date is still TBC. This will contain all the songs I wrote on my recent travels around Europe, and is my biggest project yet. For one of the songs, I put out an open invite to collaborate, and the response that I got was wonderful! It’s been so lovely watching the track progress with each new person who adds their own touch, and it’s just beautiful hearing how others interpret my music.

Following this I have a live album to release, as a memento to the venue it was recorded in, which has unfortunately since closed down. AND a 3 song EP which I wrote whilst travelling New Zealand without a guitar, so it’s a little more experimental in accompaniment (mainly a cappella), and very much inspired by all the stunning nature that I was constantly surrounded by!

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
I think my dream collaboration would be with Hozier. I adore the nature-inspired style of his lyrics, and could definitely learn a thing or two about songwriting from him! Plus, on a production level his songs are just huge, they really have an impact. I also just generally love singing with men, as the different tones are so distinguished when you have a male and female voice singing together.

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
No funny stories as of yet, although I have seen many different spellings of my surname!

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
I love the storytelling aspect of Folk, and try to incorporate that into my gigs as much as I can. I’ll always introduce my songs with their backstory, as I think it adds another beautiful element of interest. It makes the gigs more personal I think, if there can be little moments of ‘story time’ throughout. And it’s another level on which people can connect. After all, that’s what it’s all about: connection.

You can find out more about Anya via Apple Music, Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify or TikTok.

You can also read my interview with Anya about her EP “All My Love” here.

UPDATE: Anya has now moved to Bristol.