New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Portland, Oregon's Anna Tivel announced her new album, The Question last week with "Fenceline". A compellingly evocative story about border crossings, trying to capture a small piece of the incalculably complex issues around immigration, the humanity, or loss of, of fleeing or seeking. Rolling Stone featured it today calling "Fenceline" a song you need to know today saying it's "a haunting ballad that tells a cinematic story about a crossing between two lands."
In Tivel's own words "this is a song about the divisions we create to keep each other out, from fences and walls, to the gates of heaven. I guess I got to thinking a lot about what makes us different and what makes us the same, what breeds hatred and fear and what breeds understanding. I heard an interview awhile back with a border guard. He was in charge of a two mile stretch of old fence and every morning he would walk along the fence line and find wire cutters and holes. He talked about the people he met, the people he helped through and those he had to send back, what their lives were like, what they were hoping for, what they were scared of. It was right after the election and it felt so good to hear someone talk about how deeply complex borders issues are, how security is important but so is humanity. I kept thinking about St.
Peter and his gate, how some people believe that you arrive at the entrance to heaven and have to prove that you belong there, that even in death we're drawn to the idea of some kind of great wall."
Anna Tivel's 2017 release, Small Believer, was critically lauded landing multiple spots on year-end lists and beloved by NPR
Music specifically. Tivel's poetic songwriting, weaving stories so intricate that they envelope you in their worlds that are as much rooted in reality as they are works of fiction. Her ability to transpose specific experiences of those around her, sometimes who she just encounters for a brief moment, into songs that become ubiquitous through their ability to dig into these emotional depths is astounding.
Somewhere deep in the middle of a good story, a simple and powerful thing happens. You begin to feel seen. The characters have been slowly undressed, layer upon layer of hope and human flaw, their struggles revealed. They remind you of your family, of a briefly encountered stranger, of yourself.
Anna Tivel reaches for that thread of understanding with her music, that moment of recognition, of shared experience. There are hundreds of thousands of miles on her touring odometer and each town is a tangled web of heartache and small reasons to believe. She gravitates toward the quiet stories of ordinary life.
Anna Tivel's new album, The Question, will be out April 19th on Fluff and Gravy Records
Anna Tivel Tour Dates
11/08 Ashland, OR @ Headwaters Building
11/09 Redding, CA @ House Show
11/10 San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
11/15 Boulder Creek, CA @ Lille Aeske Arthouse
11/16 Hollywood, CA @ Hotel Cafe
11/17 San Francisco, CA @ KC Turner House Concert
11/18 Arcata, CA @ The Miniplex at Richard's Goat Tavern
11/29 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
11/30 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
01/27 Willamina, OR @ Wildwood Hotel
