Anna Calvi – Hunter (Red Vinyl)

Red vinyl pressing. Hunter, the third album from Anna Calvi, is the embodiment of the feeling of truly letting go. For the experimental, art-rock singer-songwriter it was a catharsis, and an opportunity to be more truthful than she ever had been before. It was time to stop holding back. To bring Hunter to life, Calvi teamed up with esteemed producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave, Grinderman), Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Martyn Casey (The Bad Seeds) – referencing PiL’s experimental album Flowers of Romance as the LP’s spiritual next of kin. Unapologetic and no prisoners spared, Hunter is an album of harder percussion, darker lyricism, and more thrashing guitars than Calvi has used before, walking us through a journey exploring power within femininity, transcending sexual taboos and breaking the laws of gender conformity. Angry subject matter calls for angry delivery, and on Hunter, Calvi pushes the limits of her guitar and her voice beyond anything she’s recorded before. It was important to Calvi that the record was as vulnerable as it is strong; as beautiful as it is harsh; as much about the predator as it is about the prey.