Annie Hart

A Softer Offering, Annie Hart’s latest solo record, is an elegant and gentle selection of songs that make magic from sparse and powerful ingredients. Noted for her film composition work and being a third of indie synthesizer pioneers, Au Revoir Simone, Annie again takes the reins on her own to create a spare, sophisticated album, celebrating the quiet moments in life that listeners will come back to time and again.

The songs create a world of effortless beauty that evokes being outdoors in warm rain or that particular nostalgia that comes from staring out a train window on an overcast day. The ingredients are nothing new for Hart: she deftly combines her powerfully emotive voice with electric piano and synthesizer and drum samples, but on this record, she spaces out the loveliness of the songs and sounds to guide the listener into a meditative soundscape. Her voice moves from intimate and hushed to a plaintive cry, at times intentionally disturbing, but always expertly balanced by gorgeous keyboard and guitar.