Anna Stine

We change, we grow, we feel new things (often too hard or too much). We are never the same person we were yesterday. Anna Stine knows this. At just 25 years old, the singer-songwriter has mapped her own evolution on Company of Now, her tender debut album exploring the ways in which she’s both adapted to and struggled with change as she emerged into adulthood. The record features ten tracks meeting at the sweet spot — a beautiful intersection between acoustic folk and coffeeshop jazz.
Hailed by fans as “the indie Norah Jones,” it’s a fair assessment, but don’t forget that she's firstly Anna Stine — a wholly one-of-a-kind talent crafting her own sound, a thoughtful amalgamation of the tones and emotions that inspire her. “In many ways, this album was honoring the various pieces of my musical identity,” Anna told us during our interview. Because Company of Now is her debut album, she treats it like an “homage,” she says, to her roots (both personal and musical), experimenting across a variety of genres. She’s still growing. Right in front of our eyes (or ears, rather), Anna is creating her sound, the one that will carry her onward through her journey with music.

Company of Now opens with “Bicycle (Intro),” a brief taste of what we might expect from the rest of the record. The rattle of bicycle spokes flicker like a film reel while a tender piano rhythm comes in aiding Anna’s voice, soft but with a great strength to it. Following that emotive, almost ethereal introduction is “Growing Pains,” a percussion-heavy track featuring Anna’s airy delivery atop bass warbles and those thick slaps and shimmers of the drums. There’s a sparkle to the song, some sort of unassuming apparition floating above the sound, casting the twinkle and glimmer of sweet folk over the dreamy arrangement. Next comes “There I’ll Go,” growing quickly with an eerie urgency before moving like a slow-burn. Here we find Anna’s gritty vocals crooning over an outlaw-like rhythm section of twangy guitar strums, percussive loops, and the dark swell of countrified bass.

On “Porch Swing,” things get soft and sweet. Gorgeous vocal echos float above an unassuming indie arrangement before Anna’s voice comes in — at its best with a steady, breathy delivery. It sounds like a dream, lush and lovely in this languishing soundscape that does not run or even walk, but saunters, as if it has all the time in the world. There’s a clear French influence here, a gentle nod to the classic chanson style in terms of Anna’s phrasing, vibrato, and drawl. The middle of the album finds its title track, “Company Of Now,” a bittersweet standout. Expertly moving between a stripped-down acoustic arrangement and gentle explosions of alt-folk influence, the track grapples with goodness. “Feather” comes next, a quirky classic jazz bop tinged by tropical treatment. The lilt of Anna’s voice paired with fast-paced percussion make this a sunny addition to a heart-heavy record.

“Threshold of You” dives deep as a sultry slow-rolling love song. There’s a real camaraderie here between the instruments — the first half of the track finds the dreamy union of woozy 50s-style melody before each element joins once again to break down a searing rock arrangement, all while Anna’s voice drifts like a wisp. “White Chair” opens with a jangling piano line merging classical and jazz trills beneath robust vocals rightly wondering “Am I wrong if I stray?” On “Eyelids,” things get gritty once again with this brooding alt-folk track. There’s a new edge to Anna’s typically soft voice, this time finding a Brandi Carlile-esque kick that howls above the shadowy rock rhythms. Company of Now ends with “Atlas Hands,” a dynamic conclusion to a beautifully versatile record. The closer is a folksy singalong featuring thumping percussion, groovy guitar licks warbling in the distance, and blooms of sparkling keys, all building a rich base for Anna’s gifted voice to sing “I stand tall while the weight of the world keeps me spinning…,” a line that could, frankly, double as the description for Company of Now.

With her debut album, Anna Stine makes a remarkable foray into the indie scene. Ten tracks of jazzy folk touched by poetic candor and the kind of earnestness that stems from being all-in with one’s own soul, Company of Now is a beautifully subdued record suggesting great success for a Midwestern talent. - The Music Mermaid

For any young person, starting out in a new city can be a challenging experience. When Anna Stine first moved to Minnesota from Ohio three years ago she was excited to start her new career as a music therapist, but quickly learned that moving to a new state wouldn't be easy. Similar to her work as music therapist Stine's debut album, Company of Now, is her way of working through the two major themes in her life right now.

"One of which is about dwelling in discomfort. That's been huge in my own journey in just becoming a human being is not pushing away the things that make us uncomfortable, whether it's emotions or experiences, but on the reverse kind of welcoming them and sitting with them," she said. "Then the other theme being moving to Minnesota. I wrote a lot of these songs kind of in the beginning of my time here, when I kind of was lonely sometimes trying to figure out my place in these Twin Cities."

Robert Bell, a well established guitarist in the Twin Cities, plays on Company of Now and produced the album. When he first met Stine, he knew he wanted to work with her on her music.

"It's happened to me with a couple of other artists too, where I absolutely know that the individual I'm speaking with and is standing across from me is probably well beyond their capabilities of what their talent. What they possess is well beyond their station at that particular moment," Bell said. "And I'm not speaking about the music therapist component, but maybe where she was as an artist, that she hadn't realized she hadn't been in a recording studio yet and hadn't recorded all of her own material. These are just incredible songs that I was just really honored to have her invite me in and be a part of."

There are many elements of Stine's sound that you can hear in her music. Influenced by powerful female artists from Macy Gray to Billie Holiday and Stevie Nicks, you can hear the range of her musical influence in Company of Now and how she makes them her own.

"There are soft songs where I'm just playing the piano. There are kind of the more rocking songs, there's one song Threshold of you where we kind of just went all out and I think it does resonate with all the parts of myself. I think that's important as an artist is to acknowledge where you are as an artist," Stine said. "Along the way Robert and I talked about how presenting these songs is kind of this stamp in my timeline as an artist, and my journey and it's about being true to those parts and figuring out what resonates and what doesn't."

But even though Company of Now is just being released, Stine says she's been already looking forward to what's to come.

"I'm constantly writing and I constantly have new songs brewing in my head. I've had to be very intentional during this process to not give too much to that part of me and to just focus, develop and learn to love and be with these songs." - MPR The Current

It’s a sultry dust-poem, set in the booming hills and valleys of a slow military march; it owes itself to the power of attraction, and a feverish sense of memory:

Anna Stine is a singer-songwriter currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The energy she brings is blues-inflected with a strong sense of personal narrative; her husky voice, and the slight glissando to her end-phrases, create a dreamy and slightly dark flow of folk and rock-inspired lyricism. Eyelids, the featured track, is a brooding self-exploration with a style evocative of the sandy Southwest, of salt-flats and one-light towns, with a soaring and energetic lead vocal that runs the range from Mazzy Star to Liz Phair and back again.

The key to the delivery here is the self-searching. Company of Now opens with a damper pedal on the floor, and a jazz hand on the piano; some beautiful musings and a fair amount of self-incrimination. The sound is always raw with a dry mix, which becomes the canvas, and a broad sense of genre-specificity generates some delicious surprises. From the simple piano-driven melancholy of Bicycle, to the mid-tempo surgical pop of Growing Pains, and the throwback folk-rock sensibility of There I’ll Go, Stine quickly delineates the perimeter of her artistic realm. Subsequently Porch Swing introduces her signature sound: that intersection of playfulness and earnest criticism, riding the line between coffeeshop crooner and blues queen.

The tone is set for a reanimation of the moment we have all tried to forget - revisiting that sense of longing, and of codependence, that so often is a harbinger of the reality check to come. On the spotlight track Eyelids, we can only keep our eyes closed for so long:

And that is the enduring message from this often jazzy, always rhapsodic, collection of songs: that we are who we decide to be, and every day can be a chance to reinvent something. The slow 6/8 of Threshold of You, which builds into a deep and emotive shuffle, further expands the versatility of Stine’s voice. On a song like White Chair, she delves deep into the piano-forward mojo of a Randy Newman, or Nora Jones, and further entrances us with her language.

In the end we are impressed with a stoic and disciplined sense of arrangement and self-description; the honesty impressed upon this whole collection of songs is notable, along with a very distinct sense of style. Anna Stine has a strong sense of who she is, and a palpable sense of vulnerability. These songs might teach you a little something about yourself. - Minneapolis Folk-Rock - Listen to Anna Stine: Company of Now

I recently befriended an amazing lady that does a lot of work with promoting bands. I stopped by her office just wanting to meet her and grab a CD or two to review just so we could try things out and see if she liked me style (because, as you know, I definitely have a style and it’s not for everyone). We hit it off. She was an amazing human and I’m very grateful to have made a connection with her. We talked about what type of music I was into and what I wasn’t. Now, trust me, that’s not an easy conversation for someone to have with me. I truly will give everything a listen and a try but I never promise to like anything. Although she had no metal bands to offer, she sent me on my way with a stack of random CDs with a little bit of everything from indie pop to jazz to country and everything in-between. I’ll admit, I was nervous. The first album I popped into my stereo was “Company of Now” by Anna Stine. Either I just picked the best album in the bunch to start off with and there’s a long downhill slide in front of me, or I’m in for a treat as I listen through this box.

The album starts with a near silent intro called “Bicycle (Intro)”. A beautiful piano kicks in and, before long, you are introduced to Anna Stine’s beautiful and calming voice. There’s a sense of tenderness and pain in her voice that is infectious. The subdued nature of this opening makes you want to grab your softest blanket and a nice bottle of wine and just curl up and let it completely take you over. It whisks you away from the pains and stress of everyday life and acts as a reminder that everything is okay, everything is fine. To call this opening powerful would be an understatement.

“Growing Pains” kicks in with the kick of a bass drum but somehow, even with the addition of drums, there’s this unexplained sense of calm that comes through the track. A little more energy in her voice, Anna’s lyrics hit you right where it counts. Somehow there’s a little country drawl that comes through this song (and the rest of this amazing album to be honest) but don’t pigeon hole this release into the country scene. This track swells like the ocean waves. Moments of calm followed up a build but there never seems to be that explosion you’re waiting for proving that Anna Stine is a true master in songwriting.

The drums that open up “There I’ll Go” bring an almost tribal sound to the record. Regardless of how the drum sound is made, they sound like hand drums performing a traditional beat. When you add Anna’s sensitive voice over the pattern and the melodic sound of the guitar, you are, again, left with this overly calming sound. The drumming instantly falls away as the CD progresses to “Porch Swing”. The more somber sound and vibe of this song juxtaposes the energy of “There I’ll Go” yet somehow doesn’t come off as sleepy or boring. Anna’s voice slides from note to note with a sense of ease and pleasure that can be felt when listening to it. Almost a jazzier vibe, “Porch Swing” is definitely one of my favorite tracks off this ten song album. The swells during “Porch Swing” reach a new high with an explosion of energy by way of Anna’s voice. Those swells make this song one of those songs that you could easily listen to time and time again and love it more and more each time.

There’s this sense of assertiveness as soon as the vocals kick in on the title track “Company of You”. With a bit more power behind her voice, Anna’s lyrics instantly had me captivated. “My roots are growing strong” is one of those lines of lyrics that, although fairly simple, stand out just due to the passion that you can hear in Anna’s voice as she sings them. Those five words in that sequence are a great example of the perfection that is in this album. It’s hard to believe that this is Anna’s debut album. I’ve listened to acts that put out album after album and never reach this level of perfection.

Track six “Feather” has a way of springing you out of your daydream and into a surreal reality. Anna’s voice quickly goes from indie-pop queen to jazzy singer. The way she adapts her voice is impressive to say the least. Although each of these songs on this album all string together in the most perfect way, each one has a completely different vibe not only instrumentally but also vocally. I know I saw that “My roots are growing strong” was one of my favorite lyrics in this album but “Feathers” has this line that goes “Can’t teach a feather how to fly”. I mean come on. Add the way her voice dances over the notes in the most perfect way and I could honestly listen to her singing that line for hours on end.

After the mental dance that is “Feather”, Anna brings the mood back to a sultry jazz club with “Threshold of You”. Sexy and somber yet full of life and energy, this number is one that is sure to have you dancing around with your cats (or your loved one… I mean, lifestyle choices). The instrumentation allows Anna’s voice to do the driving and for good reason. It’s the perfect balance as it is throughout this album. That sultriness stays for “White Chair” but the sultry, sexy vibe of the sound is replaced by this almost playful feeling. Maybe it’s the stunning piano playing or the deepness that creeps into Anna’s voice, regardless, again, this songs shows a whole new side of Anna that had yet to be seen previously on this album. Another highlight of “White Chair” is the way it fades out. There’s a sense of power behind the dramatic fade that makes you wish the song would never end and that fade were just the start of another swell of lyrics and music.

Nashville comes back and takes the spotlight for “Eyelids”. That undefined, yet definitely there. southern swagger is put front and center and the jazz club you found yourself in a couple of tracks ago is quickly replaced by a trendy coffee shop in the heart of Nashville. There’s a feeling of love in not only Anna’s lyrics but the way she tactfully attacks every single note instead of just singing them. There’s a very conscious feeling that can be heard in her music which is a thing of complete beauty.

“Company of Now” ends with “Atlas Hands”. Again, this song blasts into your ears in the best way possible. A burst of energy while keeping with the soothing and sultry vibe that she has set with the rest of the album, I couldn’t think of a better way for Anna to end the album. It would have been so easy for her to pick a slow and calm song to kind of fade the album out but placing this energetic and powerful piece at the end makes you want to just go back to the start and start the journey all over again.

It’s like an Arctic tundra up here in Minnesota and I’m all about the cozy blankets, the candles, and the endless pots of tea but I always felt like something was missing. I found the missing piece. Anna Stine’s “Company of Now” is the perfect soundtrack to those nights spent inside while the weather outside is, well, frightful.

My Favorite Track(s): “Company of You”, “Feather”, and “Atlast Hands”

Chances Of Getting A Noise Complaint While Listening To In An Apartment: 3 out of 10

Daydream-ability: 9.2 out of 10

What My Cats Thought Of It: Artemis slept on the arm of my couch closest to my speaker. Autumn screamed from the kitchen for dinner.

How Badly I Want To See This Performed Live: 9.2 out of 10

My Overall Rating: 4.7 out of 5 - Girl at the Rock Shows