Recording: anna

Artist: anna

Song: Grow a Garden (feat. Mingjia Chan)

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall, November 12, 2017.

anna - Grow a Garden

This duo of Mara Nesrallah (vox, keyb) and Tom Upjohn (guit, trumpet) was founded — or so the story goes — as a means to record some xmas songs to give as gifts. They haven't released any of their non-seasonal repertoire yet, but reference was made to some forthcoming recordings, including a version of this song which includes, as does this live take, backing vox from Mingjia Chan. (Returning a favour, in a way, as Nesrallah was in the chorus backing Chan in her heartfelt reading of James Tenney's "Listen!" at the X Avant festival.) Meanwhile, there was plenty of moody drift and beautiful voices on offer here, putting this project in the same sonic zone as local sophisticated pop peers like Bernice and Hobson's Choice.