News Kid A: ‘I Try Not To Hold Back Anymore’

Ann Alexander Thweatt writes under the name Kid A. Bearing this in mind, you’ll immediately expect a sweet, ever-experimental fusion of soft electronics and odd, shifting structures, all Thom Yorke and co. circa 2000. And that’s half of what you get with ‘BB Bleu’, Thweatt’s new single on Ninja Tune. But then sunken and sorry underneath all the atmospherics is a piercing voice, one unafraid to make its point. Lines like: “You never wanted me / you always lied to me” soak this warm, luscious-sounding song with cold melodrama. It’s a track that’s stayed with Ann for some time. Starting as a demo and being the centrepiece of her imaginary film soundtrack ‘PPPONEY’, released for free last year, it’s now gaining a release proper, with remixes from Eliphino and Daedelus backing up the original. An album’s also on the way, so we deemed it good time to talk about Ann’s past few years as Kid A, from collaborating with Dan Le Sac to having Dustin Wong of Ponytail direct her latest video.



I was interested in the fact that you’d redone ‘BB Bleu’ - the demo version is much more simple. Did you ever feel like you didn’t want to change the original?
A friend of mine, Agoria, has a really good friend in Lyon. Agoria - I call him Seb - he emailed me and said ‘Annie, I have a really good friend and he’s fallen in love with the track, is it ok if he plays around and tries to recreate it?’ I’m like one of those people who’s really open to reinterpretation of my work. I emailed Pierre the stems and he emailed me back a few days later and had this rework. That’s how I work a lot - it’s usually on this email basis. Everyone’s in Europe and I’m over here in Virginia…

Do you feel quite connected then to a lot of musicians in Europe?
I have a really good relationship with a lot of really cool producers. I first did ‘Heart Beating’ in 2010 with Agoria. Before I worked with Agoria I had the pleasure of working with Dan Le Sac. He produced my first EP ‘In a Dreamhouse’. I have this Myspace page of older stuff but I forgot my log-in…

You’ve been working for six years or so as a solo artist. It’s completely changed, your style.
I’ve found…listening back to where I was in the beginning, starting out and trying to teach myself, it’s definitely changed. Which is a good thing. My production has always been really minimal; I always just use my laptop and my keyboard. It’s loops and samples. I think less is more, when it comes to music. I also really enjoy working with producers, because it’s always nice to have a reinterpretation.

Would you describe ‘BB Bleu’ as a love song or a hate song?
I think it’s lovelorn and sadness mixed together. It’s always personal. When I write I try to be very honest. It’s either about me or about things that people close to me have gone through or have experienced. I just wanna keep it real, trying to get my emotions out. ‘BB Bleu’ is really sad, really depressing, but this beat just has a vibe and you get drawn into it.

Was the ‘PPPONEY’ soundtrack something that you felt like doing at the time or did you see it as a first album proper?
I just wanted to do something different. There’s really no big story behind it, I was bored and I just wanted to do something unique. I didn’t prepare the tracks with the hopes of it being something amazing. I just wanted to do something fun. I was envisioning actors - like Tadanobu Asano and Rinko Kikuchi - that I love in the roles, the scenes in my head and landscapes. I’m a very visual person. Even when I’m producing regular tracks I can envision the music video in my head - it just plays out.

I was really interested in how you use your voice on the OST. Sometimes it doesn’t sound human, it’s so looped and processed.
Yeah, I think it’s because I have so little to work with, I just want to change it up as much as possible. I don’t have anyone to sing duets with when I need them! I find that as I’m older I’m less afraid and I’m more confident to get out there and sing different styles. I try not to hold back anymore. I feel like I can sing over different styles and try new interpretations. I’m definitely delving more into an experimental side, for sure.

If you like the whole visual element of it, it must have been pretty cool to get Dustin Wong to do your ‘BB Bleu’ video.
I reached out to his manager and kinda begged for someone to do my music video. Dustin was really forward. He loved the track, so we got in contact and he started creating this surreal journey for the video. It’s amazing.

‘BB Bleu’ is out now via Technicolour, with remixes from Daedelus, Eliphino and Dolor.