Smalltown Supersound

Since the Bergen-reared, Berlin-based Annie Lilia Berge Strand released her breakout album, Anniemal, in 2004 the pop music landscape has changed dramatically, particularly with respect to genre-straddling female artists with one foot firmly entrenched in indie waters and the other dipped in pop territory. Her second full-length album, Don’t Stop — long-delayed and substantially reworked after creative differences with Island Records — arrived in late 2009, a post-Ladyhawke, post-Little Boots, post-Lykke Li moment. But Don’t Stop differentiates Annie from this pack of indie-electro darlings for whom she opened the doors. The album is a mixed bag in the best possible sense. Its songs run the gamut, from the dance confection “My Love is Better” to the moody, melodic, French-pop-inflected “Marie Cherie”. And Annie has chosen a diverse set of collaborators, including Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand and producers Xenomania, who have worked with Kylie Minogue, Saint Etienne and the Pet Shop Boys, reflecting her repudiation of a sound that is one note.
     PLANET caught up with Annie as she readied herself for a year of touring to support Don’t Stop as well as continuing her regular DJ gigs at home and abroad.

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