Multi-instrumentalist, Anja McCloskey, is a relative veteran of the music scene for her tender years. She has already gained a raft of experience playing with the likes of ten-piece performance orchestra, The Irrepressibles and folk-rock trailblazers, Haunted Stereo. It is with Haunted Stereo that Anja discovered that much of her creative inspiration veered towards, and suited, a folk arrangement. This included the composition of songs such as Cross the Sea, a Q Magazine Track of the Day, and to singing lead vocals on Santy Anno, which featured on the Wears the Trousers Magazine tribute compilation to Odetta in 2010.
Half-American, half-German and raised in Northern Germany, Anja’s love for music evolved as she grew up listening to her grandfather playing the button accordion. This exposure to the accordion led to it becoming her main instrument, although her wider interest in music meant that not only is she classically trained as an accordionist, but as a gospel pianist too. In 2000 Anja won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award in the US and two years later moved to the UK to continue her musical journey.
Her eclectic background has been put to good use. Whilst it wasn’t entirely based in the folk scene, her EP – Turn, Turn, Turn - has allowed Anja to explore that side of her creativity. Using quite delicate arrangements, the EP features a multitude of instruments such as piano, violin, viola, guitar and clarinet, but the main feature strays towards her expert accordion playing and her vocals. Pulling on influences like Sharon van Etten, Abigail Washburn and Rufus Wainwright and combining her classical knowledge and her new found inspiration for folk is a tantalising prospect that you won’t have long to wait for.