Anne Malin is an Interlochen, MI-born, South Bend, IN-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (guitar, autoharp), who along with her collaborator, multi-instrumentalist William Ellis Johnson (electric guitar, classical guitar, Lowrey organ, banjo and synth) have received praise from Bandcamp and NPR for a unique meshing of spoken word poetry and music that’s been described as “deceptively rich” and “unsettling.”
Slated for an October 12, 2018 release, the duo’s forthcoming Fog Area was conceived while Malin and Johnson drove past multiple fog area road signs on an emotionally fraught move from Massachusetts to Indiana — and thematically, the album touches upon desire, political and social injustice and prophetic reconciliation with each song on the album denoting a psychic and sonic space as the album’s material draws from and possesses elements of folk, rock and noise, centered through a deeply meditative lyricism. Fog Area‘s first single is the hauntingly gorgeous “In Waves,” a track centered around a spectral and intimate arrangement of shimming guitar, brief bursts of organ, and a soaring string arrangement paired with Malin’s tender and plaintive vocals — and while nodding at Chelsea Wolfe and others, the song’s yearning, intimate and confessional nature makes the song feel as though Malin is singing directly to you and only you.
