Anne-Simone - Bittersweet (Self-Released)

Anne-Simone is a futuristic electro pop artist currently located in Seattle, WA. On her new EP Bittersweet she crafts a deft mix of modern techno and early synthpop, obsessed with computers just like Chris & Cosey’s Techno Primitiv, or even a less gimmicky version of Neil Young’s Trans. The very idea of the computer romance found on the single, “Digitize Me,” echoes a less robotic version of Kraftwerk’s Computer World. This running theme makes sense too, because when she isn’t recording, she in fact creates software, and the very lyrics of “Digitize Me” literally make up a running computer program, following synthpop’s obsession with technology to its logical end.

The rest EP may lack the punch of the lead single, featuring mostly ballads, but the careful pop construction and attention to detail remains. Nothing is as computer oriented as “Digitize Me” but the whole sound of the EP still makes it sound like a robot’s programmed idea of love. The title track, “Bittersweet” almost verges on an 80’s power ballad, and it works so well precisely because it feels so out of time. Anne-Simone always sounds like she has one foot planted firmly in the future and the other in the past’s idea of the future, making for a fascinating melding of sounds. Bittersweet will be released January 11th.