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Songs We Love: Anna B Savage, '1'

Courtesy of the artist

Listening to Anna B Savage's music is like being told a secret. Very little information has been released about the London singer-songwriter, which adds to the mystique wrought by her husky, confessional voice. Every aspect of Savage's aesthetic is spare, from the title of her first single, "1," to the title of her debut EP, EP, to her lyrics, which offer piercingly honest insight into the scourge of insecurities faced by a pair of lovers revealing themselves to each other for the first time.

Relationship anxiety is not new musical territory, but Savage's treatment of the subject is rare. This is not coy, or conflicted, or even particularly excited anticipation. It's the voice of a person deeply afraid of being seen as she is. Savage is strong enough to be fragile, opening her neuroses up like a vein. She lets her voice slip into a whisper at several points on EP, but never so much that her message is lost. "1" chronicles the low self-esteem that gets piped into young women with the ubiquity of the air they breathe, and Savage delivers it with an earnestness that could level buildings.

The songs of EP aren't cheerful, but they're vital. Hear a stream of the entire EP below, including a premiere of "IV," a gorgeous plea for ignorance in the face of a loved one's faults.

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Katie Presley