anaïs - 'lost my faith' — When The Horn Blows

After the release of a stunning exploration of her place and faith in the world, with ‘darkness at play’ London-based artist Anaïs has just released two tracks from her upcoming album.

‘lost my faith’ was written by anaïs when she first moved to London. She says that it is a reaction to the “despair and hopelessness that I felt as a person of colour from the persistent murdering of minorities before of their colour, gender, sexuality and/or religious beliefs at the hands of police in the US”. This is something that is dear to anaïs’ heart and she says that the catalyst came from “growing up in Oakland and witnessing the Oscar Grant murder”. Most interestingly, in a statement about the release of the songs is anaïs pointing out that “Bruce Springsteenidentified this twenty years ago in his song ‘American Skin’ and yet nothing has changed”. What is shocking about the whole thing is that nobody seems to be surprised by it.

While we are a bit more familiar with the mellower and sultry tones from anaïs, ‘lost my faith’ is more upbeat and has a stronger element of pop and dance music. There is a prominent sense of confidence and the all-too-familiar defiance of her musical style. Alongside ‘lost my faith’ is the more solemn and grave ‘in the dark’ which is a collaboration with Toulouse. Their velvety vocals are so perfectly intertwined with each other. This is more akin to the anaïs we are all in love with. “I’ll be sure to sing the song the caged bird sings” is the bold refrain which leads into a powerful spoken word piece by Tonya Ingram. This collection of singles is a powerful collaboration with artists who are using their platform to make changes in their communities. We are the change we need to see; it just takes people brave enough to make it happen.

Words by Tyler Damara Kelly