MANIFESTO

POiSON ANNA

In her mixture of dub, and trip-hop, POiSON ANNA crafts meticulous soundscapes and musical movements in search of knowledge and truth.

Crafting a thrilling mixture of dub, trip-hop and UK rap, Poison Anna sounds like the amalgamation of UK’s musical history, experimental, poppy, committed, earnest: equal parts Bjork and Tricky. Her voice contorting itself around chilly, ethereal beats, her music a process of self-exploration, existing between organic, the natural, and the claustrophobia of the city. A collaborator of Dean Blunt and ASAP Rocky, since releasing her debut mixtape, Excelisa, in 2021, she’s also worked with French rapper JWLES and also returned to her roots, exploring contemporary in a series of experimental performances.

“I'm very much in that space where it doesn't just need to be focused on my voice or my existence. I just want to incorporate as much of my knowledge really into my pieces now.”

Conor McTernan

Hey Chloe. Last time we spoke it was in mid 2021. You had just released EXCELSiA. What's been the biggest change between then and now?

POiSON ANNA

There’s been a lot of personal growth, a lot of evolution. I've been creating a lot of music which has yet to enter the world, I've just been really taking my time. I feel like I've just been learning a lot, learning to be patient.

CMT

You’re between Prague and London a lot right? And you’ve been spending some time in Paris, too. How scattered or nomadic have you been since things have opened up a bit more again?

Literally, I'm never in one place. I'm always traveling. I just got back from Morocco. I like to be as minimal as possible when I travel just by myself, very nomadic in a sense, just a small backpack, hand luggage and a couple things to wear. I just like being in the world. I like going into different cultures and really understanding and learning.

CMT

Do you travel with music in mind?

I like to mix. Travel and do shows and create a route where I can balance my personal time and then end up at a show, if that makes sense. So last year I traveled a lot in Europe, traveling through Eastern Europe, finding lakes, hiking up mountains, playing shows. This year I’ve been going to places just to really sit with myself and find inspiration. My next projects are completed in a way, they're just in their final stages.

CMT

Awesome. Are you working on an album? I know you were doing contemporary dance and performance work too…

I just did a piece at Shoreditch Arts Club called Shadow Self, which was a mix of two tribes from Ghana, mine and another, it was about my journey of really acknowledging what my heritage is. It made me go really deep into myself.

I guess I'm going off the topic a bit, but for me, the last two years I'd done a lot of shows. And then this coming year, it's been very much the whole body approach. I think I'm very much in that space of, it doesn't just need to be focused on my voice or my existence. I just want to incorporate as much of my knowledge really into my pieces now.

So Shadow Self was my first all dance contemporary piece that I've created. I kind of incorporate movement within my shows anyway, but there was no vocal performance here, it was all physical theater.

CMT

I read about your collaboration with this Parisian rapper called JWLES. I watched the 96 Heat video, which I understand you filmed in the 18th arrondissement, and you wanted to pay homage to the real areas of Paris.

We’ve worked together for many years, and that was the first thing we properly did together. JWLES lives in Paris and that’s where he lives. I've been to Paris a few times now, but in the beginning it's like this very, I don't want to use the word cynical, but the area in the center is so heightened and beautiful, but the first time you come to Paris you don’t really consider what the real Paris is, the people who live there.

Hanging out with JWLES and going to his area, I just was like, wow, this is it. When people come to London and they stay Central, it's the same thing. It's like, well, do you actually know South London? Do you know the depths of West London? Do you know where the real people live? And I just instantly felt way more comfortable. So the video was a kind of homage to that, to being in the streets, walking, chilling, the guy who works in local grocery store.

CMT

I read that the video was partially inspired by the artist, René Magritte. The roses and the concealing of the faces and I guess all those iconic pictorial tropes feature in the video, which came out around Valentine's Day.

For me anyway, when I made that song, I was very much in a place where I was recognizing something from someone that I really liked, that they were kind of, in a way, using my presence. So it's like I'm kind of mocking it, as it were. But it all happened quite organically. JWLES found a rose while we were shooting and then he was just holding it the entire video. And then yeah, well, it is a play on Valentine's Day because we're not in love and we're not actually chasing that love, but it's a love day, and let's just contrast that. I just love contrast. So I just wanted a happy, sad kind of space. I'm very much into, if you expect it to be happy, it'll be sad, or if the visual is looking sad, maybe it's more uplifting than you think. I'm very into that.

Even with EXCELSiA, the cover is just fucking... It's the Breath of Gaia and it makes sense for the song, but if you look at the visual, maybe all the artwork, you might assume that it might be a bit more delicate sounding than it really is.

CMT

So you two are going to perform together at Manifesto. Have you performed together before?

I was playing a show in Marseille in March, it was my birthday, and JWLES pulled up. But this will be our Paris debut. Paris is what connected us as individuals. Whenever I go to Paris, I'm always with JWLES and we're always doing some kind of thing somewhere in the streets.

CMT

Espace Niemeyer is this incredible building. And knowing that you've done interpretive work at Shoreditch Arts Club, what are you planning? How are you going to interpret this space for the performance? Is that a consideration?

I think the space is so incredible that I’m thinking about just letting the environment speak for itself. But I'm incredibly excited about my set because there's some new music on there, and it's quite a political piece in terms of the message.

CMT

You've said previously that it's your mission to help people connect and understand their purpose away from society's pressures. And I just wanted to ask, is that purely through music, or how else would you go about that?

No, I think I've been starting to realise that I want to do it through everything that I do. There's obviously new music to come containing messages that contain new knowledge I've learned, but I just like to be in the world. How I do it aside from music, is just being open to being around people and new experiences. But I do definitely feel like music right now in my life is the main documented source of that. But if you see me in the world or you speak to me, I will definitely just try and spread the knowledge that I have in some way, shape or form.

CMT

I've read it in a few different places so I just wanted to ask, what does the statement "They tried to poison Anna" refer to?

It’s basically my slogan.It's kind of like they tried to get me, but I stayed ahead. It’s about avoiding complacency. Or I feel like I created, not pressure for myself, but a certainty that poison exists. So make sure you're aware of it.

CMT

Check yourself.

Yeah. I like to see myself ahead of some of the things that are happening in this world that I'm not going to say I predicted a lot of things, but just many things that are happening that I'm like, oh, noted, and not unseen.