Anika – From political journalism to the exponent of the musical underworld – little classics lost

Anika was born in Surrey, England, but she and her brothers grew up talking the German at home and that explains her strong accent to Nico; Besides he inherited from his parents the love of music, always present in the Home of the Henderson family.

But before embarrassing the experimental fields where they flourished their so many musical work, the young Annika (her baptismal name) won a much less interesting but equally turbulent road, that of political journalism.

During the years he acted as such and also as a correspondent in Berlin to the European Higher Education News (ESNA), the future singer saw growing socio-political questions that would later become themes of her songs and that were already began to be scratched in the lyrics she wrote. It was also during this time that his life turned a turn when he met Geoff Barrow.

The former portishead was looking for a vocalist for his new project, the Beak>and in Anika's cold voice found what she was looking for. They found to have several common influences, and during these exchanges she invited him to produce some of her ideas. In 12 days I was ready Anikayour debut, released in October 2010.

In addition to producing the 9 tracks on the album – which features covers of Yoko Ono, Bod Dylan and Ray Davies, among others – Geoff also 'lent' the Beak> as an anika studio band. The result is an album in which the dub, post-punk and the sound of the girl groups merge generating something experimental, minimalist and dark, bringing to the end of the end of the end of the 70s/early 80s, such as the Malaria!

Inteat, in the middle of that decade Anika made his debut in Mexico having as partners on the stage Hugo Quezada, Martin Thrulin and Hector Melgarejo. Of the coexistence between them was born the Exploded Vieweven more experimental and politicized, which has so far released two albums and an EP (Exploded viewEm 2016; Summer come earlyin 2017 and Obeyin 2018. In the meantime she also collaborated with Tricky, Dave Clarke, Shackleton and I Like Trains. Prolific?

In 2021 during the damn covid pandemic 19 and 11 years after debuting, Anika resurfaces with Changea less head, more electronic and 'pop' album than its predecessor, recorded in Berlin with its Exploded View partner, Martin Thrulin. In common, the themes of the compositions and the cold voice of anika in front of everything.

Cuts in April 2025: Once again working alongside Thrulin but this time inspired by grunge – especially by the Hole of Courtney Love – Anika resurfaces with Abysshis most 'rocker' album so far, sounding as if his anger and frustrations with the ways of humanity drafted from the lyrics to the guitars. Listen to “out of the shadows” and attest.

Thanks to its versatility and detachment of aesthetic strings and equally because it is a voice of confrontation in a world where false images are worth more than true words, Anika is an essential figure in the universe of music.

May it follow, authentic, combative and without fear of experimenting.