PG: You are currently living in Brooklyn. How has Brooklyn’s music scene been surviving since the pandemic?
AR: In the summer and fall, Brooklyn was the perfect place to be for an independent artist like me. I was getting invited to and hosting a bunch of rooftop shows and they became sweet meeting places for new and old friends who would otherwise be torn with hundreds of other events happening like they do in New York. I feel like the pandemic is offering New York a chance to rebuild.
A lot of venues are suffering though and many artists can’t find work. I still feel too young in my music career to fully feel the weight of the financial loss.
I toured a lot last year in Europe, the USA and Canada so being in New York and finding home and community here has felt right. I think I want to stay here for a while and just keep building with these people.
PG: What are your plans for your music career in 2021 and beyond?
AR: I hope to survive [the pandemic] first and foremost haha, and if that happens I hope to release a bunch of music I’ve written over the years and just keep growing and getting better at the rhythm of being a working musician.
I have an album that I made with a friend in Montreal who is in the band Thanya Iyer that I’d love to put out. I started taking jazz guitar lessons as well and would love to play in other people’s bands in whatever capacity they may need. My partner Omar Wiseman and I have been collaborating and plan to release some singles and maybe even an album together down the line.
For my career I hope to live off of my art and to never stop letting the art continue to heal and inform my journey through this life, and converging all that with activism is a must. Going forward I want to continue to build with other like-minded artists a world that is a little less exhausting for those of us who choose this life.
You can listen to and purchase the full EP on Bandcamp here, and stay up-to-date with Anjali Rose on her website.