Making his debut on the Pure Noise Records roster, Anthony Anzaldo unveiled his latest project, Anthony Family with the release of his new single and music video “101 North.”
Anzaldo has been working on Anthony Family for several years. He says he waited “until I felt like I had a cohesive body of work that was reflecting where I’m at and how I feel.” For the single, he wanted to let the song speak for him with instrumentation and overall vibe, not just with his words.
“What do I want from this song?” he asks. “What does this song want from me? What do I want you to feel when you hear this song? And will that feeling be conveyed best through full band, synth, guitar, everything? Would that feeling be best with just meeting guitar? Or would that feeling be best over the span of seven minutes with a lot of space, you know?”
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With his band Ceremony, Anzaldo explored heavier genres like post-punk and new wave rock. Now, inspired by the likes of Prince, Scritti Politti, and Prefab Sprout, he is taking a lighter approach. Accompanied by soft synths and a gentle backbeat, Anzaldo sings of wanting to take a trip away from his troubles as he navigates toward peace. “We’ll find a way to get away,/avoid byways, and runway/Or we can stay/either way, Darling, we’ll find a way.”
“Thirty years ago, if you would have told me that I was going to be able to write a song like this, I would have said, ‘I cannot wait to be 30 years older,’” he says. “It’s a song that I’ve been wanting to write my whole life — and finally being able to have the ability and mind to pull it off, that’s the success.”
Check out the music video for “101 North” from Anthony Family below and stream it here.