Somehow the algorithm put Anika Pyle’s music in front of me. I can’t remember what I heard first. It might have been the ban Chumped, it might have been the band Katie Ellen, or it might have been Anika’s solo material. I know for sure that their album Wild River – a heartbreaking musical diary surrounding the death of Anika’s father was in constant rotation when it came out. A true blessing of a human being in the world at the most human.
From Anika’s website:
“Hello. I am a queer singer-songwriter (they/she), spoken word poet, everyday writer, and sometimes actor exploring the dialectic of the human experience–joy in one hand, sorrow in the other.
I grew up on a cattle ranch in the Colorado prairie but promptly left the West at 17 for New York City then Philly, nurturing a career out of the punk and indie scenes.
I have toured the US, Europe, and Canada, sharing stages with Jeff Rosenstock, Bartees Strange, Pup, Laura Stevenson, The Hold Steady, Slaughter Beach, Dog, Chris Farren, and The Menzingers. I have sang and written songs for film and tv, including Cartoon Network’s Craig of the Creek and Alex Ross Perry’s Her Smell, starring Elizabeth Moss.
My work has been featured and praised by NPR, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Pitchfork, SPIN and more.
I recently moved back to Colorado and split my time between Fort Collins and Queens, NY.”