Multifaceted folk singer-songwriter Annahstasia talks her process of creation, musical origins, and stunning debut album, Tether. 

One of folk music’s most giving and gregarious new talents, Annahstasia dares and devastates, quietly and effectively. An Wonderland cover alum thanks to her modelling and fashion endeavours, it’s only in the past few years that the rising star has shifted her focus to music and begun releasing. Now, there’s no looking back.

Introducing Tether, Annahstasia’s fantastic debut album, shared via drink sum wtr. The work is jaw-droppingly cohesive, deeply piercing in all the right places, carefully curated — from each melody to every phrase. It’s melancholic but uplifting, part Joni Mitchell part Tracy Chapman, brimming with moments of quiet reflection and soaring choruses, expansive and electric, endearing and encapsulating. 

All-in-all, Tether is incredibly impressive, especially considering it’s a mere debut. To find out more about her odyssey to date, the album’s making and meaning, and what is next on the horizon, Annahstasia stops by Wonderland for a chat. Read exclusively below… 

Listen to Tether…

Check out the interview…

Annahstasia! How are you?

Feeling blessed and grateful.

Take us through your earlier musical memories? When did it become a passion?

My early memories were all exploratory, finding room for my own words in-between chords, obsessively playing the same thing on loop for hours while I looked for the right thing to say. I am inherently a passionate person, so anything that I do creatively I do with immediate and immense passion.

Describe your sound in a colour, an emotion and a culinary dish? 

The Colour is brownish green like moss mixed with soil. The emotion is relief, culinary dish is homemade lentil soup with a side of fresh sourdough bread and some nice French butter.

Congratulations on your debut album, Tether! How are you feeling about releasing it? 

Thank you!! I feel really great. I have been carrying this music for a long, long time and it will be a beauty to witness it’s spread throughout the world.

What inspired its choice of name?

“Tether” is a mantra for me through this last 3 years in my search for grounding through personal transformation and growth. It also represents a strong rooting, a solid starting point from which to grow tall.

How was the process of creation for the album?

It called for a lot of patience, and a lot of grit. I really had to confront and overcome so many interpersonal fears and industry traumas within me in the process. By the end it made for really fertile ground. The music leapt out of the air and into song.

What were the greatest challenges you faced?

The reoccurring seasons of doubt and depression in between all the waiting. That as well as finding balance between my love for spaciousness and my draw toward sonic maximalism.

The album is a long time in the running, a work that has been curated over a period of time. How did you decide that it was finally ready to be shared? Why is now the right time?

All the right champions came together, I think when you have waited for so long for the vision in your head to become real, it really isn’t so hard to recognise when all the pieces are there finally to assemble. I am only slightly in control of these timelines, the album in some way decided when it wanted to be born into the world. It got pushed back a few times and I never fought it much because I figure the universe knows exactly what it’s doing in regards to music and time.

What inspired the musical approach of the record?

I was really inspired by my favourite singer-songwriter records, and across all of them I found they all had the commonality of treating space and silence as an accompanying instrument. Used to craft and carve the dynamics. I wanted to be just as fragile and sacred about the production of these songs as well.Considering each choice in the arrangement as a colour in broader landscape.

What does the body of work tackle, thematically?

It concerns itself with our most commonly shared experiences and emotions. The first bud of love, disappointment, betrayal, softness, rest, hope, and remembrance. I wanted to create a body of work that brought me back to my humanity and the humanity that we share.

What else is to come from you, this year and beyond?

I will be on the road much of the year, touring and sharing various experiences with the music and inspired by the music. After this year I will probably go back into my hermetic mode, rest, get my hands into a garden I have been yearning for specifically that type of tending.