Six years ago, one of the most beautiful records was released, even though no one (or at least not many people) noticed it: the eponymous debut of Anika. The German-British is a political journalist whose icy voice was noticed by Geoff Barrow of Portishead when he was looking for a female voice for his band Beak.
In twelve days she recorded nine songs.The press was enthusiastic and a small tour followed, but that was it. Poor me, at that time I told everyone that she was the reincarnation of Nico. For years I thought the blonde had said goodbye to the music business, but now she is back with her new band Exploded View.
The debut was released on Sacred Bones and can be compared with her first album, and of course that is because of her cold, almost apathetic voice which is a cross-fertilization of Kim Gordon and Nico. The big difference with the debut is that Exploded View sounds more like a personal record, as after all the debut featured five covers (from The Kinks to Yoko Ono).
For the rest you can describe Exploded View as krautrock with a macabre character. The music is dark, gloomy and contains mainly the beauty of death. We had to wait six years, but welcome back Anika.