With Abyss, Berlin-based Anika—long revered for dubby synthscapes and slow, haunting songs—slams on the brakes and pulls a sharp left turn into rougher, grungier terrain. Full of guitars and propulsive rhythms, the result is a seamless transformation that redefines the artist without losing what made her music magnetic in the first place.
Lyrically and thematically, the album explores society’s turbulence alongside deeply personal reflections. Appropriately named, it takes us to the rock bottom of the current political landscape and serves as a call to arms to make a change. The raw, visceral production combined with Anika’s one-of-a-kind vocals set the combative tone for the 10-track journey, which demands your attention and barely allows you to breathe.
Abyss isn’t just about rage and noise, though—it’s about what comes after. In letting the vulnerability shine through at the end with “Buttercups” (funnily enough, after the track titled “Last Song”), the record closes with the chaos tempered by clarity, violence softened by the longing for something better for us all.
Listen below and buy the record here, out now via Sacred Bones Records.
Acute Pop 