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Mixmag October 1997

Mixmag
CategoriesMusic
FrequencyMonthly
CountryEngland
LanguageEnglish

Deborah Anderson discusses her debut album in the October 1997 issue of Mixmag. The album was later abandoned, and Anderson released a newly recorded debut in 2009.

Transcript

Deborah Anderson

Prog sprog turns jungle explorer

The crisp, melancholy drum n' bass of Deborah Anderson's debut single, 'Lonely Without You', might sound like the perfect complement for her distinctive vocals, but not so long ago she was well on her way down a different career path. Living in Los Angeles with her father, Jon Anderson of 70s prog rockers Yes, Deborah was singing with him on tour ("cheap labour"), acting in plays and writing songs for forgettable straight-to-video films ("stuff I hope never to see"). Fortunately, her introduction to jungle came just at the right time. Suitably enough in the, er, jungle.

"I was travelling in the jungle and I hitched a ride on a Winnebago," Anderson explains in the transatlantic tones of the well-travelled. "There were musicians all over it so I got inside and Alex Reece was sitting in the back. It's a good story isn't it? It's boring saying I met him in Clapham or somewhere."

The result of this chance encounter was 'Feel The Sunshine', where Anderson's blissful voice helped give Reece his breakthrough single and pricked the ears of MoWax's James Lavelle. Working on blending her new love for drum n' bass with her passion for South American music, she's found time to sing on DJ Krush's 'Skin On Skin', one of the highlights of his 'Milight' LP.

Now DJ Shadow is just one of the producers to offer their services for her own album, and her general euphoria suggests things are going very well indeed. Now if it wasn't for those pesky Bjork comparisons that followed 'Feel The Sunshine'... "I hate comparisons", she huffs. "One magazine said that 'Lonely Without You' was 'more like Portishead than Portishead themselves' and I thought, how nice... for them. Hopefully, soon people will say 'You sound like Deborah Anderson'." No doubt about it.

Dorian Lynskey

'Lonely Without You', with remixes by Stereo MCs, is out now on MoWax

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