Anastasia Coope emerges as an inspiring new talent on the music scene. With her latest album, Daring Woman, set to release on Friday, May 31st, we had the exclusive pleasure of sitting down with Anastasia to talk about the creative journey behind her work. Our conversation revealed a passionate artist who is creating her own, unique space in music. Anastasia’s vibrant energy, authentic humor, and insightful reflections on her artistic process made our interview an absolute delight. As Anastasia prepares for her next ventures, her dedication to pushing boundaries and crafting immersive experiences signals a promising future in music. Join us as we explore the mind behind Daring Woman and get a glimpse of what lies ahead for this inspiring artist.

Northern Transmissions: Right off the bat, what was the inspiration for this album? I read that you were staying at a family member’s house for a little while and were just working from there?

Anastasia Coope: Yeah, I think I was just alone a ton. And my fascination with recording had kind of just begun in tandem with that. I was like recording at such a scale, like I was making, you know, 5 to 10 songs or recordings a day because I truly was not doing anything else all day. It kind of came out of just really, really liking writing and recording so much.

NT: Your background is in other types of art, like painting, mixed media and other mediums right? Why the transition to recording and what was it like?

AC: Yeah, I’ve always done visual art. It’s just always been something I’ve done. But when I started making music, I was still really young. This record is actually quite old. Some of the first recordings are from 4 years ago. But yeah, I think that I hadn’t yet found a medium that felt so immediate or easy to interact with.

Whenever I’m drawing or painting it kind of feels like it can only be done up to a certain point. I’m not super into going in really hard on a painting. I kind of let them be after a while. I think recording was kind of like the first practice that I had experienced in my life that I was able to really go in on it. It was kind of the first time I had ever been able to spend so much time doing something.

NT: When you sit down to make your art, whether that be, you know, recording or painting or whatever medium you’re using. Do you set out with an intention or a feeling that you’re trying to either transpose or is it just like you are sitting down and letting whatever comes out just come out?

AC: I think it’s somewhere in between the two. There’s always the element of spontaneity. So the actual moment does have a lot to do with it, but I think that I also have a really particular target in mind a lot of the time and it’s sort of always been like the same, it just kind of grows and changes a little bit. I’m kind of always shooting for something to feel a certain way, you know, and sort of like to materialize that ideology. And whatever that ideology is is kind of just an amalgamation of the stuff that I’ve extracted from all the stuff that I like and listen to, you know?

NT: What were some of the keywords that come to mind with this album, things that you were trying to get across or feelings that you were trying to elicit?

AC: A lot of lushness. I’m really into when nature is really lush, I don’t like when there’s wide expanses of trimmed grass or something manicured. I always like when there’s a lot of different landscapes, like meeting another. But then also I feel like maybe blunt is a good word because at the same time, the songs, they’re really short and I’m also trying to make them really punchy and very like, tangible. I don’t know, I like things to be really obviously my own or something? I like when things feel like if you listen to it, you’re entering the realm of what the person’s going for.

NT: Going back to your comment about an amalgamation of all of your experiences and the things that you’re taking in. This album escapes one genre, there appears to be influences of classical music, gothic, folk, and more. Where does that come from for you in your life?

AC: The folk part of it is because I grew up in the Hudson Valley, which is famous for folk. Like I grew up going to camps where Pete Seeger was. When he was still alive, he would always come to the camps and talk to the kids. He was super cool. Everyone kind of worshiped him, obviously. I don’t know how much I actually cared about it when I was a kid, but it’s like naturally just embedded because of all of our field trips.

But then when it comes to the more gothic or classical stuff, in the past, I wasn’t really comfortable having a certain sound. I feel far removed from categorization. I’m kind of getting over that now, but yeah, I don’t want anything to sound like a folk song or like a pop song or anything. I like things to sit in this very new space.

NT: When listening to this album, is there a certain way that the listener should try to approach this?

AC: Well, it’s really short. It’s like 21 minutes. And I did that because I have attention span issues, as I’m sure most of us do now. So I think it should be listened to from front to back. And I don’t know, I feel like it’s maybe more indoors than outdoors. Listened in like a good looking room maybe. Or like a historical library. But also it’s good to walk to. Inside in a library and if it’s outside, the grass can’t be cut too short, you know, it has to be like… Nice and lush. Yeah, like a lush meadow. Those are the rules.

NT: Is there anything overall that you want to share about this album?

AC: Well, one story is about the album cover. My grandma had this book of like pictures of dolls at the bottom right of the cover there’s like a hundred antique dolls. They’re all kind of like collaged on top of each other. The original album cover was meant to be this picture I took of one of the dolls that was like really zoomed in. It was like half the size of a pinky nail, but it was so zoomed in and all grainy. But releasing it on a label, they can’t mess around with legal issues, you know, like copyright. The album cover was initially meant to be this really strange distorted picture of a baby doll.

The back cover of the record has a picture of a doll that’s meant to look exactly the same as the one that was on this book cover. I had to order a doll on Etsy that looked similar to it. It was $450. But then it just ended up looking better for the way it is. So now this doll is on the back cover. The doll is actually in the Secretly group office on Wythe Avenue. That’s public information that it’s there. I’m not doxing them and if you look in the window you can see it because I left it there. And the idea was that I was like haunting them. Always thinking of me. Always watching…

NT: Wrapping up, I’m really curious to know what your next steps are? Anastasia: Mmm well my second record. I have to make that and I think I’m going to mostly record it myself. And I want that to be my pop record, so yeah top 40 is the goal. Just kidding. I want to attempt to make something that’s as catchy as possible. I’ve been listening to a lot of late era Fleetwood Mac, Enya, and ABBA. I just wanna try to have that be the goal.

Pre-order Darning Woman by Anastasia Coope HERE