Annie Dressner is a singer-songwriter who is starting to make waves on the British music scene after having made something of a splash in the live music venues of her native New York City.
Her debut album, Strangers Who Knew Each Other’s Names is a collection of self-penned meditations on love and life, all underpinned by a distinctive, charmingly warm vocal style, and some dextrously arranged music that at times has a shuffling, country-tinged feel, but just as frequently soars and takes flight into alt rock urgency.
Annie grew up in a musical family in New York, and would make up her own words to go with the songs she heard being played around her. But it was only around the age of 18, after leaving High School, that taught herself how to play the guitar, and began writing some songs. After receiving encouragement from friends, she started recording her songs and started playing at open mic sessions in the bars and clubs of Manhattan. At these music nights Annie met a group of fellow musicians who were subsequently to form the basis of the backing band who appeared on the album. The recording of Strangers Who Knew Each Other’s Names was not exactly a straightforward process, predominantly being made on Sundays spread over 10 months at the apartment of friend and producer Anthony Rizzo in Queens, NYC. “This probably helped it turn out better,” laughs Annie. “because we had the chance to reflect and fix anything that didn’t work very well.”
The result is an album full of songs that are lyrically evocative, yearning and unstintingly honest about the difficulties of being separated from a loved-one (“I smoked a cigarette so I could taste you in my breath”) and the consolations of being reunited (“Anywhere with you is home” she declares on one of the stand-out tracks, September).
Last year she relocated to this country, and made Cambridge her home, which she says has given her a new lease of life as a performer. “In New York it’s like there are only so many venues on each musical level, so you end up playing to the same people. I’m really excited to be playing to new audiences over here, and just want people to hear the music and hopefully relate to it.” If you fancy catching Annie playing live, she will be performing three times in Cambridge during the next few weeks, while interspersing her gigs here with road trips to perform around the UK, as far afield as Sunderland, Liverpool and Manchester.

Watch a video for ‘Fly’ by Annie Dressner here…

Annie Dressner, Friday 3 Feb, 20:00, CB2 Norfolk Street; Saturday 18 Feb, 20:00 Portland Arms, Chesterton Road; Thursday 1 March, 19:30, Hot Numbers, Gwydir Street. For more info visit www.anniedressner.com or www.facebook.com/anniemakesmusic