A Conversation with Anjani Thomas

PUREMUSIC: I've really, really been enjoying this new work of yours, Blue Alert.

ANJANI: Thank you.

PM: It's a beautiful record, kind of a quiet joy.

ANJANI: That's a lovely way to put it.

PM: To me there's such a special value to a CD where all the vocals have been laid down softly. I mean, there's so much noise going on out there.

ANJANI: Isn't there?

PM: And everybody wants to be exciting. [laughs]

ANJANI: Right, right.

PM: But when somebody wants to be quietly joyful or peaceful, or give you a record where there's no spot in the record that's going to get a rise out of you except in a quiet way, boy, that really means a lot to me. And that's what you've done here--don't you agree, that it's a very soft record.

ANJANI: It is. But it's kind of deeply penetrating at the same time.

PM: Absolutely.

ANJANI: I mean, there are a lot of ways to get to the spot where you're trying to go. And you can either, I guess, crash through with an ax, or just open it quietly. But it can be a devastating job just the same. After all, if you want somebody to listen to you, it's much better to speak quietly.

PM: And in this, your third CD, the unique and amazing angle, of course, is that it's such an unusual collaboration with your partner, Leonard Cohen.

ANJANI: Yes.

PM: I mean, obviously it's very rare that a poet or a songwriter will open their notebooks for mining, as it were, to anyone, right?

ANJANI: Right.

PM: Not to mention that these are not your average notebooks, of course.

ANJANI: But I do make him breakfast.

PM: [laughs] The most important meal of the day.

ANJANI: There is a bit of a tradeoff. It's got to come up sooner or later. [laughs]

PM: And someone who will make you breakfast in your life, that's a very special person. If you're going to open your notebooks to somebody, let it be them.

ANJANI: [laughs] Right.   continue


print (pdf)     listen to clips      puremusic home