Marisa Anderson

On “The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music”, Marisa Anderson reinterprets music from places the United States has been in conflict with since 1970, drawn from Harry Smith’s private collection of nearly a thousand records. It feels like a very open-armed project and a gesture of connecting that could hardly be better timed — beautifully studied and played, and a resounding success.

Marisa Anderson shares ‘Sarvi Simin,’ the second single from “The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music, Vol. 1,” out May 22nd on Thrill Jockey. The track — an ecstatic duet between Anderson’s guitar and Gisela Rodríguez Fernández’s violin — interprets a piece from a 1977 Melodiya Records release, transcribed while Anderson travelled by bus through southern Mexico.

Marisa Anderson’s The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music, Vol. 1 draws from the late Harry Smith’s vast private collection to present nine guitar arrangements sourced from regions the US has been in conflict with since 1970. First single Taqsim for Guitar offers a meticulous reworking of a 1955 Syrian field recording — Anderson’s fretted instrument reaching, carefully, toward music it was never designed to hold.

Jim White and Marisa Anderson have announced UK and Ireland tour dates for September 2024 in support of their expansive new duo album Swallowtail. In case you missed it, check out their KLOF Mag Playlist.

Watch Jem Cohen’s wistful music film for Jim White and Marisa Anderson’s “Aerie”, the album opener of their latest duo album Swallowtail. Cohen: “Collaboration? Improvisation? Song structure? None of it has to be tied down.”

In our second ‘Reflections’ playlist, we ask Jim White and Marisa Anderson to put together a playlist that inspires them. Featuring: Lankum, Anouar Brahem Trio, Freakwater, Ornette Coleman and more.

Swallowtail, Jim White’s and Marisa Anderson’s latest offering, is an album of quiet assurance and power. Shaped through improvisation and musical conversation, it encapsulates everything there is to love about improvised instrumental music.

Taken from their forthcoming new album Swallowtail, listen to Marisa Anderson and Jim White’s new single ‘Peregrine’, a gorgeous slow-burner that highlights the duo’s almost effortless synchronicity

The open vistas and isolating landscape of Jeff Rutherford’s film, ‘A Perfect Day For Caribou’, are perfect for Marisa Anderson to explore in her improvisations on piano and guitar.

Following their acclaimed 2020 debut The Quickening, renowned drummer Jim White and acclaimed guitarist Marisa Anderson announce their elemental new album Swallowtail. Listen to their new single “Bitterroot Valley Suite I: Water.”

While there is drama and darkness on Marisa Anderson’s ‘Still, Here’, there is also optimism; it’s a powerful and thought-provoking album of beauty and profundity.

On “The Fire This Time”, the new single from Marisa Anderson, she nods to James Baldwin and his galvanising Civil Rights essay published in 1963. It is the most complex and moving translation so far to be taken from her forthcoming new album.