New CD "Tangle-Free World" coming out in June on Taxim Records!
With the release of Little Black Dress and Other Stories, Anny Celsi evoked comparisons to artists like Aimee Mann, Lucinda Williams, Suzanne Vega and Jackie DeShannon – all songwriters distinguished by a literary voice that is every bit as vital to the listener as her singing voice. Little Black Dress established Anny internationally as an artist worthy of a second listen. And that second listen is about to arrive.
Tangle-Free World will feature ten new original tunes along with some surprising covers. Continuing in the pop-noir vein of Little Black Dress, the new album retains Anny's unique "beatnik cool" feel while expanding her musical landscape, with influences ranging from Jimmy Webb and Lee Hazlewood to The Byrds, Dusty Springfield and Burt Bacharach. Musical contributors include 60’s chanteuse Evie Sands, Phil Parlapiano (John Prine, Grant Lee Buffalo), Carl Byron (Michelle Shocked, Jim Lauderdale), Amy Farris (Peter Case, Kelly Willis), and members of the Brian Wilson Band.
What the critics say about “Little Black Dress & Other Stories:
"clever…the music is consistently strong to boot." -- Ken Barnes, USA Today
“Affecting, pop-smart tunes” – Chris Morris, Billboard
“Hit material folk pop” – Tom “Tearaway” Schulte, Outsight Communications
“In the classic singer-songwriter mode, Anny’s sunny/dark folky-rock took me to a “Raymond Chandler-esqe” Los Angeles of hard lessons learned and the high cost of love. Dig it! It’s black and white 50’s film-noir in color…” -- Jonny DuFresne, Two Louies
“Little Black Dress & Other Stories is a superb debut album…Anny Celsi is a talent to watch.” -- Michael Toland, www.highbias.com
"...a beatnik-cool performer who veers from poppy, bouncy beats to jazzy piano bar riffs and sexy come-ons…she’s sensitive but no wimp and a fellow traveler to Aimee Mann and Sheryl Crow. The “pop-noir” soundtrack of her solo debut, “Little Black Dress,” wears a veneer of L.A. Confidential style." -- Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press
“Think of Victoria Williams, Aimee Mann, Suzanne Vega and Sheryl Crow mixed together and you begin to get the picture. Anny is pretty much their equal as a songwriter.” -- S.P. Clarke, Two Louies
“A musical journey in the best sense, "Little Black Dress" unfolds like a tightly written script.” – Mark Spangler, The Oregonian
“An ultra-cool, ultra-hip album that is one of the best new releases I've heard in a long time. Check it out.” -- Ed Kociela, Utah Daily News
“It's not often that listening to a record evokes the same buzz of satisfaction that one gets upon finishing a particularly ripping book. Seldom does an album sustain an arc of characters and situations that is consistently surprising, amusing and touching. "Little Black Dress and Other Stories" is all this and more… "Little Black Dress" is a perfect fit.” – John Chandler, Portland Tribune
“When she starts to sing she's got something to say, and she says it in this way designed to separate the boys from the men, if you know what I mean and I think you do.” -- Ben Varkentine, www.ink19.com
"Anny Celsi is a Cali girl with plenty of sass…There isn't a weak track in the set, which is no small achievement." -- Adrian Zupp, HARP
"Anny Celsi possesses such a radiantly reassuring voice that it almost doesn’t matter what she’s singing about.” -- Falling James, LA Weekly
"The music is all in Celsi's writing, which is direct, killing...needing no ornamentation..." -- Greil Marcus, Real Life Rock Top Ten
"...a marvelously cool, hip, subtle singer and songwriter, who can pull off the kind of genre-jumping of which I usually disapprove, equally convincing with a Dusty Springfield/Jackie DeShannon style ballad as a Peggy Lee-ish torch song...." -- John Conquest, 3rd Coast Music