Anna Leah

Our October Maker…

Anna Leah is an Irish singer-songwriter who studied at BIMM Dublin. Her storytelling elegantly captures such dreamy childhood fantasies and the tumultuous adventure of growing up.

I first met Anna in school and got to know her utterly gorgeous voice at talent shows and assemblies. But was only introduced to the full scope of her musical world when she released her first single ‘Growing Up is Never the Fun Part,’ and have followed her discography ever since.

There was no escaping music growing up. Having played classical piano, traditional Irish music and a family swarming with musicians she inevitably caught the musical bug. Even by incessantly humming and singing through school she was always retreating back to music. She was able to latch onto the aural subjects as a connection to music, which really made her decision for her.

‘‘Things in Irish or French was my niche and that was because of music. So I thought - I think I’m good at this, I think I’ll stick to this.’’

A pivotal moment was a third level education open day in the RDS, Dublin, where her friend Eve pointed out BIMM to her. She was struck by the fact that it was a college for music that wasn’t centred around jazz or classical but emphasised songwriting and welcomed modern, commercial genres. Only in her first year there she began to think that this could be something that she could truly pursue.

‘‘Once I put out my first song, kind of just for fun as I’d done it all by myself. I saw the feedback I got and it was all good. I was like okay, I’m gonna do this and I’m gonna get it done professionally and actually put money into it. It was kind of a natural progression which was really nice.’’

We both draw from similar pools in terms of the narratives we always return to. Anna is a true songwriter at heart and is endlessly excited by playing with narratives such as childhood, nostalgia, mental health, friendships and growing up.

Honing in on those early ages as a kid or teenager and writing about it now to try to make sense of how it felt at the time. We were busy living those years rather than understanding them.

‘‘Now that I’m older it clicks with me. I can write it down, create stories. Looking back at childhood - there’s so much stuff I can write about. We were more free and we didn’t care.’’

Her process is everchanging, which allows each song to find its own way to creation. Although a steady starting point, is finding a juicey melody on the guitar. From there lyrics can fall onto the page or be revistited again in days, even months. One verse can become the chorus to another song or an old melody can couple up with new lyrics. The big rule is to simply write and record everything - the good, the bad and the ugly.

‘‘Even if it’s really bad, just to get the bad stuff out of the system is always good. Today it could be bad but tomorrow it coud be amazing so just write everything down.’’

The pivotal shift from when a song is released into the world is a freeing experience for her. Getting to see peoples faces and bodies react to the live performance allows each song to take on a whole new narrative as a new world is created within each person who listens to it.

‘‘I can detach from it. I had the moment with the song then it’s for the world.’’

I find it so beautiful and rare that an audience can have a live an experience with a musician but then they can continue take their work anywhere with them. I have such vivid memories of listening to Anna’s single ‘City Girls,’ getting the train from Tilburg to Schiphol Airport throughout third year college, and still hear it when I take that journey now.

‘‘It’s people’s journies to places or they have special moments with the song or something really nice like that. It’s really sweet, it’s like there’s an extended version of me out there, kind of floating around.’’

Excitingly she’s feeling a lot freer now after having fully stepped into the working field. Freer to write and release whatever feels relevant for her now. The layers of judgement, paranoia, panic or cringiness are melting away, that for her stemmed from being in an all girls school.

‘‘Obviously there is that question - what if it takes longer for a song to break? Or for me to kind of expand and really make my name? There’s always an element of what if?’’

But she rightly decides not to dwell on that and continues to chase every opportunity as another stepping stone. I’m also catching her at an exciting moment as it’s the morning after her performance for Ireland Music Week where she was joined by people from all over the globe.

‘‘It was so nice to be like - okay people from outside of Ireland like my music and that’s really positive. That’s another stepping stone in the right direction which for the head is really really good.’’

We really bonded over the battle of knowing so clearly the work you want to make and how you can make other people see that. Through this, figuring out where you possibly begin in finding a pathway to navigate the field. She has found that it seems to start with being content with all the different possibilities - people with quick overnight success after college, others who begin to establish themselves later on as they familiarise themselves with their own brand and every other route inbetween. But it seems to be in the taking bits and pieces from each possibility and knowing that not every bit of advice will be the most suited for you.

As this is happening we’re witnessing our piers move into stable, permanent jobs which acts as a funny reminder that that more reassuring lifestyle is also a possibility. Having to then actively reaffirm ourselves that the madness the arts brings is worth every ounce of uncertainty.

‘‘I always think this is so much more exciting, I get to meet people from around the world, it works for me, this is good.’’

The next stop on the map of making it for her, is the release of her upcoming EP. She’s adjusting to the shift of making stand alone singles to devising a coherent package both musically and narratively.

‘‘I started off last year with two songs and thought maybe I could put these into an EP. I was then really picky with what other songs I would record and making sure I really liked everything we were doing in the studio so that lyrically and soundwise it all comes together.’’

We’ve had a similar experience in the way we like to collect working relationships as we go on, and hold onto them.

‘‘Once you find someone that you work well with in this industry, it’s like okay I need to work with them again. Everyone’s working style is so different that once you find someone that you click with, you think lets work together, lets do something, lets keep it going.’’

The balancing act of juggling the creative desires vs the practical productal demands seems to be an ever looming obstacle. We’re dreaming of the surplus of people we’ll have on pr, administration, production and technical teams in the future so that the focus can really be on the making rather than everything else around that..

‘‘Applications take time as well. So then you realise you’ve spent the whole day doing admin stuff and you feel too drained to doing anything creative. You don’t feel satisfied at the end of it.’’

Drumroll please, the career notes she’s striving for ‘Notes for a future Memoir,’ are ………………………

Fulfilling & Successful

‘‘It’s always something at the back of my mind cause you do have the odd people - ‘Oh how’s the old music thing going? - You have to think no this is a career. So that I did it for myself but kind of stuck it those people who always kind of undermined you. That like no I did it, in the best way I could, whatever way I go or route I lead.’’

Anna’s new single ‘Bittersweet,’ is out now and can be found on instagram @annaleah___

All things Anna Leah - music, updates, performances and more can be found HERE