Loud And Clearly

Anni Rossi “Crushing Limbs”

Anni Rossi seems to work in extremes — she’s either slashing away at a viola and punctuating her vocal parts with wordless, orgasmic bleats, or limiting her expressive range within rigid arrangements that remind me of Piet Mondrian’s painted grids. “Crushing Limbs” falls into the latter category, more so than any other song she has released to date. It is ostensibly a perky pop song with a bouncy beat and analog synthesizers, but its words are grim and her vocal tone has a deliberate shell-shocked affect. The song is effective in conveying blank confusion and muted terror, but it makes me worry that Rossi could be pushing too far in this direction for her next record, and abandoning the wild streak that I found so compelling in her first EP. I would be very interested if she found some kind of aesthetic half-way point — a controlled performance dotted with moments of unhinged emoting.

Visit the Anni Rossi portion of the 4AD website.