There’s something actually refreshing about a singer/songwriter who describes their ‘creative process’ as “…something makes me frustrated, and then I turn it into a little passive-aggressive song…just obsessing about stuff that’s not that important, actually!” So said Berlin based, indie pop realist Anna Erhard when asked about how her latest album ‘Botanical Garden’ which is emerging now via Basel’s favourite label, Radicalis Music. It’s a soundbite which reveals why her music gets so deliciously intoxicating. Honest, understated, sometimes sneery and oozingly ironic, Erhard’s songs are there to help you bounce back from the bad day you’ve had.
She’s been sharpening that focus for a while now, starting to write solo when the undervalued indie folk trio Serafin stepped down in 2019. Her first album ‘Short Cut’ in 2021 began to feel her way in terms of tone while 2022’s ‘Campsite’, made with producer buddy and ex pop-rocker Pola Roy, tightened up and strode out confidently (Radio 6 couldn’t resist). Now ‘Botanical Garden’ is ready to notch things up again, with another bunch of loveable, quirky but crisp scuzz-pop songs.
As soon as the needle drops you get plunged into Erhard’s sly snipe at small world sensitivities with the rattling garage rock skank of 170. Here the story picks on two friends bantering about who’s the tallest. With a lyrical ear for how conversations go, Erhard puts herself at the centre of the story. “You say you’re the same height as me / but I’m 170/ and you’re half a head shorter than me/so how can that be?” she jibes. Then comes the killer, dry observation “I met your family/ and yes your parents are both lovely/ but also they are quite short”. As the song’s jangling hook plus rippling disco keys sweep you along, you begin to sense some real Baxter Dury-esque panache in Erhard’s timely punch-lines and steamy indie-rock locomotion.
All through ‘Botanical Garden’ Erhard continues to shove our shallowness and petty pre-occupations into the satirical ringer. The title track pairs the scandalised moan of a disgruntled day tripper to a sprightly Primitives pop fun soundtrack, the droll narration quoting ‘2 out of 5’ Trip Advisor truths as a benchmark for a vacuous take on the excursion. Sounds a bit underwhelming but it’s not. There’s a deeper layer to this Botanical Garden song with Erhard digging deep into our internet driven, consumerist mindset.
Stepping away from the everyday, B.M.G. Academy sees Erhard zooming in on the music world and scratching the itch of maintaining artistic cred at all costs. What do you do when a musician friend sells out, takes up regular session work with the creepy sounding Blue Man Group then offers you freebie tickets to see a show? Over an edgy post rock guitar, Erhard wrestles blithely with the issue of needing to be “blessed with a good excuse” not to go and see a now successful band, a band she slaughters deliciously as having once been “just three bald dudes banging loops on tubes”. So far so straightforward but there’s more going on here. As the tune stomps harder, hitting a Flaming Lips psych-stride, Erhard gets (relatively) more ruffled about the situation and the feelings it has stirred up.
Like Courtney Barnett, beneath the slacker, ‘whatever’ exterior, Anna Erhard’s songs often have a vulnerability and warmth woven into them. Add to that dimension, nothing is over-dramatised or exaggerated in the snapshots of modern living she presents, with the result that everything here is so relatable and readily engaging. Spa is one such story, told to a chirpy De La Soul bounce, where petty rules and conventions about swimsuits and towels get innocently broken …how punk is that! Tune in yourself and you’ll recognise that genuine subversion is at work here. Hot Family is similarly sharp, as it romps along effortlessly with a raucous nineties indie swagger, sarcastically envious of those gorgeous looking designer disciples, “so hot they’re smokin’ …”
As ‘Botanical Garden’ breezes along the novelty and playfulness never wears thin. That’s because the combination of a tight, uncluttered band sound with Erhard’s spikey imagination is seriously impressive. Unsurprisingly Erhard and Pola Roy were joined by friends in open ended studio sessions where the vibes of each tune evolved from beats and riffs that were jammed out rather than ‘composed’. It’s such spontaneity which gives this record not only a physical grit but also an inventive capacity to frame the songwriter’s more surreal observations.
On Rick Blurs some zoomy riffs, euro-pop whistling and a non-twee Altered Images hook without blinking while Erhard gets sceptical about a tarot card reading from “some Mexican lady”. Despite what she’s told by the mystic, she neatly concludes that “people need someone/who’s more like Rick Rubin/ who says quotable short sentences/ of great universal beauty”. Closing track Teeth on the King sees Erhard’s ‘band’ in reduction mode, stripping things back to lo-fi coos, bedroom pop keys and a steady trip hop pattern while still maintaining the melancholy which any song about a rocky friendship requires.
Erhard’s last words on this intrepid collection are “let’s make a plan, it’s all that we need” and you wonder where she might go after making such an individual and irresistible album as ‘Botanical Garden’. Perhaps the alt-country twang of Stash which sees her explore more desperate and dubious realities signpost another direction or maybe not. We can trust an artist with Anna Erhard’s acute waspish instinct to always hit out at the right targets on our behalf.
Get your copy of ‘Botanical Garden‘ by Anna Erhard from your local record store or direct from Radicalis Music HERE
