Anna von Hausswolff managed to exist at this wonderful intersection that happens in art where you want someone to remain your best kept secret, but you’re also super happy to see them finally get the wide recognition they deserve. I remember first hearing about her from my music nerd friend Dylan, who has a formidable music taste. A pint-sized woman making crushing music on an organ, in a way that unites music fans across the experimental spectrum – from Godspeed You! Black Emperor via SWANS to fans of chamber music. She has been my go-to among my favourite women making music with the darker tones, like Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle. I loved exploring all her albums as they have been painted with different brushes, but together created a string identity. Her 2025 album Iconoclasts gained her a critical acclaim and reached a lot of new ears thanks to her collaboration with Ethel Cain (who also manages a difficult balancing act of appealing to both experimental music lovers as well as pop girlies) on ‘Aging Young Woman’, as well as the Iggy Pop collab ‘The Whole Woman’ opening her up to the seasoned punk audience. And this is where her power lies – her masterfully crafted sound, while niche, transcends boxes.
Hinako Omori
Hinako Omori was the perfect opening act to set the scene – her delicate minimalist, ambient drone sound captivated the fast-filling Electric Brixton, which happened to be around the corner from where she grew up after moving with her parents to London as a child – performing with Anna von Hausswolff in Brixton must have felt like a full circle moment.
Anna von Hausswolff
Soon the venue filled up with smoke and the array of instruments on the stage (including Anna’s portable organ) started to have live breathed into them as her band took to them for the intro from ‘Consensual Neglect’. Then her voice pierced through the smoke and we were all instantly hypnotised. Her sound is both immense as much as it is airy, occasionally feeling like a chant. It’s the kind of music that allows me to cut my heart open and let the music flow in as if it was a magic spell, and heal all elements that require healing while expelling any demons that might hide in the corners. The first cathartic moment came during ‘The Mouth’, when the strobes created a moment of pure trance. Anna von Hausswolff came to the front of the stage for a passionate chant and eventually collapsed before our eyes, just to come back to life, renewed.
I eventually found myself on the top balcony, surrounded by the handful of friends I managed not to lose in the crowd, and each of us allowed Anna von Hausswolff to perform unique sonic open heart surgeries – whether it was grief, anxiety or simply a sense of release. As I looked around, I saw that others were under the same spell, a spell that allowed us a moment of connection and introspection, and communal catharsis through music that can be confrontational, but it also fills my heart with hope. It is also beautiful to see an artist who makes uncompromising music fill venues the size of Electric Brixton on a gloomy day in late January. So as much as I would love for Anna von Hausswolff to remain my best kept secret, she has become a must-see live performer and if you can see her on any of the remaining dates of the Iconoclasts tour, I urge you to do so.
Anna von Hausswolff
Set 1
- Consensual Neglect
- Facing Atlas
- The Mouth
- The Whole Woman
- The Iconoclast
- An Ocean of Time
- The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra
- Stardust
- Aging Young Women
- Ugly and Vengeful
Encore
- Funeral for My Future Children
- Struggle with the Beast
