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Anjimile - New to 4AD, 'Stranger' Out Now
Anjimile : New to 4AD, 'Stranger' Out Now
19th October 2021

Anjimile Chithambo, known artistically as Anjimile, has joined the 4AD family and today he releases his debut for the label, a one-off single entitled ‘Stranger’.

+ Stream new track 'Stranger' on all platforms here +

Of today’s single, Anjimile says the following:

“Stranger is something of a confrontation between my past and present selves in relationship to my trans identity. I started testosterone about 3 or 4 years ago, and It’s been simultaneously liberating and alarming to note the changes to my mind and body over the years.  'Stranger' is an admission to myself that, while I welcome all of those changes - especially the deepening effect of testosterone on my singing and speaking voice - it’s still scary and there is a degree of internal ambivalence to my transition.  In transitioning I lost, or gave up, a part of myself.  And that is hard to reconcile.  'Stranger' is an attempt at some semblance of reconciliation, I guess.”

‘Stranger’, which was recorded with producer/pianist Thomas Bartlett and songwriter/producer Gabe Goodman, is the first new original music from Anjimile since his 2020 debut album, Giver Taker on Father/Daughter. Giver Taker was released to critical acclaim, and by the end of 2020 was included on a number of year-end round-up lists from Hanif Abdurraqib, NPR, Rolling Stone, SPIN, KEXP, and many more.  In addition to a number of streamed performances throughout the pandemic – including a KEXP session, a performance at Sylvan Esso’s Betty’s studio, a round table with the likes of Perfume Genius, and more – Anjimile also performed sets at Hopscotch Music Festival and Treefort Music Festival in 2021.  He is currently working on a new album.

Raised in Dallas, Texas to Malawi-born parents and now transplanted to North Carolina, Anjimile knows that study and appreciation are as important as practice when it comes to music.  When it comes to composition, Anjimile draws upon everything they’ve learned, from the African pop beloved by their parents to his time in youth choir, and later influences from ‘80s music and even contemporaries/now label-mates Big Thief.  Lyrically, he delves deeply and thoughtfully into the human condition; from his own perspective, Giver Taker addressed the conflict between their faith and life as a trans person, as well as the hopeful victory of overcoming addiction.  The following year, Anjimile released their Reunion EP, which included orchestral re-imaginings of select Giver Taker tracks by composer Daniel Hart (Polyphonic Spree, St. Vincent) as well as vocals from Jay Som, Sasami, and Lomelda.  Last month he also released his cover of Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s ‘Ever New’, which was the accompanying B-side to a TV On the Radio cover helmed by Bartees Strange.

Select praise for Giver Taker:

“A fully formed, confident voice.”  - The Observer 
"Expressing an anxiety widely understood."  - Uncut 
“A celebratory ode to the future is testament to the prowess and deftness of Chithambo’s understanding of life.”
- The Line of Best Fit
“A warm, beautiful album, full of moments of wonder and joy at having emerged on the other side of hardship.”
- NPR
“A record with no small amount of gravity . . . His voice can tenderize your heart as it does on a song like '1978', but then he’ll turn around and sound positively rakish on ‘Baby No More'.  The glue is a generosity of spirit and fearlessness.”
- Rolling Stone