Anika Anika (Vinyl)

The most refreshing part about Anika’s eponymous debut album is just how unambitious it is. You’d be right to be skeptical of Portishead’s Geoff Barrow linking up with another European singer with a deadpan, dramatic voice, but Anika isn’t an attempt to capitalize on past glories. Instead, it’s a further delving into Barrow’s record-nerd fantasies after 2009’s krautrock-isms with his band, Beak>.

The majority of the tracks on Anika are covers, leaning heavily on 1960s pop and folk. Beak> augment Anika’s droll talk/sing with a dubby, beat-driven noir that borrows from minimal wave’s chunky rhythms and post-punk’s spindly verve transforming “Terry” and “End of the World” teenage navet into lingering fear.

Tracklist:
A1 Terry
A2 Yang Yang
A3 End Of The World
A4 Officer Officer
A5 Sadness Hides The Sun
B1 Masters Of War
B2 No One’s There
B3 I Go To Sleep
B4 Masters Of War (Dub)