Annie Bacon & her OSHEN
Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2008
Music
Press
"Annie Bacon...creates a cinematic experience for listeners with haunting melodies and carefully orchestrated harmonies. Her sound varies as each track pulls from various influences, sometimes folk, sometimes indie-rock, but always fiercely emotional. ("What we said") is a track and video that you'll forget you've left on repeat all day." - Earmilk
Nothing Stays the Same is a lush, beautifully orchestrated album of Americana-tinged folk rock. Filled front-to-back with 45-minutes of thoughtful songwriting about universal themes, it’s sure to stay a favorite for months to come. - Midwest Action
"Some nights you need to rock out to hardcore, other nights you want sweet and tender vocals over a folk-y melody, the kinds of songs in which the lyrics mean something and the music carries you right along. Annie Bacon, also known for her "Folk Opera" work, offers that soothing sound you may yearn for at her album release show with her OSHEN band (for new album Light to See Dark). Think Americana, with an emotionally driven undertone.” - San Francisco Bay Guardian
I encourage you to seek ("Gallatin Pike") out for keeps. Some singers have a way of connecting with their audience and Annie Bacon’s storytelling is exceptional... as are the visual elements of this single, from the artwork to the video join up those dots perfectly. - Folk Radio UK
"Local Bay Area music scene favorite" - Music in SF
"Creativity, truth and emotion drive her sound to a whole new level" - Urban Vinyl Magazine
"Annie Bacon ... was striking. Bacon’s music was warm and emotive, but not without sharpness." - The Bay Bridged
"Bacon’s most recent endeavor, the single “What We Said,” stirs a dream-like air of a musician finding their way back home. Pensive yet hopeful, the track’s avant-garde approach to folk is a fitting progression for Bacon (who just returned to the city herself)." - SF Sounds
"When I think of people who exemplify the Bay Area's creative culture, I think of people like Annie Bacon. Highly original, filled with integrity and continually questing...” - No Depression
(Gallatin Pike)'s a heart wrenching offering in a sense, as it dives deep with classic bluegrass accompaniments, which combine to drive the wholesome degradation of the hurt and the lustful. Together in arms, Annie takes it again, to another notch, as her Stevie Nicks like penetrating vocals, dilate the formations of clouds, and mists that surround our sonic visions. Michigan based, San Francisco prior, and originally from Maine, Annie Bacon is a beautiful singer and teller of stories. - comeherefloyd
Even the mere richness of her intonation would be enough to suggest that this singer has some stories to tell, but then her poetry begins to paint cinematic pictures that can seem to be montages from any of our memories in terms of relatability. - Current Magazine
Her vocal style calls to mind greats like Rickie Lee Jones and Joni Mitchell, with tenderness and emotion flowing from each lyrical turn of phrase. - Mother Church Pew
(An) anthemic folk track for all those who are struggling. - Surviving the Golden Age
The next album by Ann Arbor's Annie Bacon isn't scheduled to be released until January 2024, but she recently gave listeners a sneak preview with "California Heat," at atmospheric folk-pop ballad. - AADL / Pulp Magazine
Discography
Storm LP forthcoming (2024) “California Heat” single ( 2023) "Harvest Moon" single (2020) Nothing Stays the Same LP ( 2019) "Used to be the One" single ( 2018) "Nikki's Song" + "What we said" singles ( 2016) Stranded Songs EP + 2 remix collaborations ( 2015) light to see dark LP ( 2012) Live at the Red Devil Lounge LP (2011) The Folk Opera LP ( 2010) There is No Reason Here EP (2009)
For a Better Life LP (2019)
Compilation organized to benefit Immigrant Families Together
Photos
Bio
Annie Bacon is a writer and songwriter living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. With her OSHEN she merges a literary writing style and folk-rock Americana sound to create rich and emotionally complex music. She has also composed a Folk Opera, written a forthcoming novel on themes of motherhood & war, and is currently working on an original full-length musical with collaborator Kyle Rasche (Chain of Lakes) called The Keeper. Her new album Storm is due out in May 2024. -- She split most of her life between New England and San Francisco, but relocated with her family to Michigan in 2018, where the music community embraced her and provided a network of collaborators and mentors. After a personally challenging 2019/2020 and surviving a global pandemic while deeply grieving multiple losses, Bacon emerges with a host of creative works. Abiding by Buckminster Fuller’s “It has to be Everybody or Nobody” philosophy, Bacon is always at work to foster community - whether through songs that explore the many ways we experience and express our humanity; through mentoring other musicians, especially as a co-coordinator of first the San Francisco and now the Southeast Michigan chapters of the Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI), or as a panelist with Balanced Breakfast or Folk Alliance Region Midwest (FARM) events; through uplifting and shining light on unknown artists as a freelance music writer (bylines in KQED, She Shreds, MetroTimes Detroit); or through outright community management (which she does in both a volunteer and professional capacity for communities of parents/caregivers). She’s also done some things: With her OSHEN (a rotating cast) she has recorded three albums (one live) and three EPs, all comfortably in the folk-rock and Americana orbits. Her songs have been featured in film and commercials, and have earned her nominations from Independent Music Awards (Finalist/Americana), Great River Folk Festival (Top 3 Finalist), and International Songwriting Competition (Semifinalist x2). She also composed a Folk Opera (about love and loss: of memory, places and people) while traveling in the Middle East and southern Africa, recorded an early version of it in 2010 with a 15-person live band and Townsfolk choir with the help of avid fans, and had it adapted by Alphabet Arts as a verse-puppet play for their Puppets & Poets Festival at the Bushwick Theatre in Brooklyn, NY in 2013. In 2016-17 she appeared in a small role in Taylor Mac’s genius “24 Hours of Popular Music” shows in New York and San Francisco. In 2019, Bacon coordinated and created the title track for the For A Better Life compilation which raised funds for Immigrant Families Together. In late 2022 she cowrote an original full-length musical, The Keeper, with collaborator Kyle Rasche (Chain of Lakes) which is currently in workshops. She is also currently working on a novel on themes of motherhood & war, and two albums set for release in late 2024.
Band Members
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