NYC art-rockers Ecce Shnak is bombastically stoked to present ‘Anna O’, the third single from their much-anticipated full-length record Dandy Variances, slated for release on October 23rd via Records, Man Records. With its ferocious blend of art-rock swagger, grunge grit, and theatrical ambition, ‘Anna O’ offers a raucous first taste of the sonic unruliness in store on the album.
Recorded and produced by Jeff Lucci, this single was mixed by Grammy award-winning producer Mario McNulty (David Bowie, Prince, Nine Inch Nails, Julian Lennon) and mastered by multi-platinum engineer Kris Crummett.
Formed in 2011 and forged in NYC’s experimental scene, Ecce Shnak (pronounced Eh-kay sh-knock) is made up of David Roush (composer, bassist and baritone vocalist), Bella Komodromos (vocals), Chris Krasnow (guitar), Gannon Ferrell (guitar), and Henry Buchanan-Vaughn (drums).
‘Anna O’ is a jump-off-the-couch, roaring-the-hook anthem with big grunge energy. For the first time, Ecce Shnak’s composer-baritone-bassist defers his lyric-writing duties to someone else. His mother, Robin Kneubuhl, wrote a poem months before he and his producer, Jeff Lucci, cooked up a noisy instrumental in March 2019. Roush and Lucci tried the poem out as a lyric, and it fit just right.
Kneubuhl has described her poem as “a lament about tragic contradictions in contemporary feminist thought and practice”. While Kneubuhl wholeheartedly believes in feminism’s ideals, she is concerned that it is misused toward nefarious ends, to the detriment of women and others alike.
“The song’s tragic hero embodies both a noteworthy psychoanalytic patient of Freud’s protégé Josef Breuer and the real-life gun-slinging heroine Annie Oakley. Though Anna is beleaguered by the contradictions Kneubuhl observes in the poem’s story, she ultimately emerges triumphant in the fight against patriarchy by the song’s end,” explains David Roush. “Though we are in the process of firming up the specifics, we can’t wait to play this for the Shnakiverse and music lovers generally on tour this fall!”
The music video is a third collaboration between Ecce Shnak and LA-based film producer DJay Brawner, who also directed the videos for the album’s first two singles, ‘Vincent’ and ‘Eddie, Legalistic Homeslice’. Ecce Shnak’s soprano, Bella Komodromos, plays the role of Anna, who is deeply distressed in captivity, as she seems wrongfully entrapped in an asylum. However, through an act of heroic resistance, she overthrows her abusive doctor and his servile aide. She sets herself free while the mighty rock band Ecce Shnak plays her homage as loudly and wildly as they can.
While Ecce Shnak’s songs draw on a wide array of styles, fans of Nirvana, the Pixies, and the Jesus Lizard will likely latch onto ‘Anna O’ quite tenaciously. With a reputation for astounding performances, Ecce Shnak’s music a volatile yet meticulously crafted ecosystem, where technical precision meets inspired mayhem.
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