Daneshevskaya

“Did you love that as much as me? . . . Really looking forward to hearing more of this, because the songwriting is so good.” - Bob Boilen, NPR Music

Daneshevskaya — the songwriting project of Anna Daneshevskaya Beckerman — unveils her new single/video, “Challenger Deep,” from Long Is The Tunnel, her Winspear debut out November 10th. Trained as a social worker, Beckerman works at a preschool in Brooklyn, interacting with children every day. “Challenger Deep” — which glides across finger-plucked guitar, oceanic production, and Beckerman’s intimate vocals — was inspired by one of her classroom experiences. “There’s a story I read to the kids that I work with about how, when you say goodbye to someone, there’s an invisible string that connects you,” Beckerman says. “My version of that is seeing someone at the end. Even if it is pretend, it’s a nice idea.” This wide-eyed outlook extends across Long Is The Tunnel, whose seven tracks glow with the sense of childhood creativity.

Following a kinetic trail of singles — the recently-shared “Big Bird,” praised by UPROXX for “conveying the capricious nature of life,” and the “warm, thoughtful” (Stereogum) “Somewhere In The Middle” — “Challenger Deep” is accompanied by a video directed by Madeline Leshner.

Written over a period of years beginning in 2017, the seven gleaming songs on Long Is The Tunnel each sound like a world within themselves, pairing twisted-up classical structures with distinctive metaphors that are both otherworldly and grounding. It paints a distinctive collage between traditional songwriting and modern turns of phrase that remain spellbound in the unadulterated luster of self discovery. Co-produced by Ruben Radlauer of Model/Actriz, Hayden Ticehurst, and Artur Szerejko, Long Is The Tunnel also features contributions from Lewis Evans of Black Country, New Road, who Beckerman recently supported on their North American tour.

“The fun part of music is connecting with people, that’s how I was raised,” Beckerman says. A life-long New York City resident, Beckerman grew up in a musical family; her father is a music professor, her mother studied opera, and her brothers played various instruments. She learned piano from her father's grad students. Her recording name (and real life middle name) calls back to her roots, coming from her Russian-Jewish great-grandmother, a person whose presence has always been felt although their paths never crossed in real life. The name conjures a world of romance and unknowns, and as Daneshevskaya, Beckerman crafts artful, haunting songs that only ever reveal themselves half way before she spins the wheel again. While writing Long Is The Tunnel, Beckerman often re-read her grandmother’s letters, which “conveyed longing in such a subtle and satisfying, realistic way,” a sentiment that can be applied to her own music. Her songs often feel spiritual, less so by any religious connotation and more as a hymn-like, archival record of Beckerman’s own past, present and future.

While her debut EP Bury Your Horses stitched together the fixed points and mysteries of human connection, Long Is The Tunnel contemplates how the people you meet impact the pathway you travel. The somber melancholy of her love songs are often more manifestations to her internal self than anyone else. What she’s really seeking is the independence of a healthy relationship, or she explains: “we’re not gonna belong to each other, but we’ll share this life.”

Daneshevskaya will play her first headline show in New York City on Thursday, November 16th at Stone Circle Theatre.

Daneshevskaya (Dawn-eh-shev-sky-uh), the project of New York’s Anna Beckerman, writes songs steeped in the folklore of her own personal history. Her artist (and real middle) name comes from her Russian-Jewish great-grandmother, a person whose presence she has always felt although their paths never crossed in real life. Beckerman grew up in a musical family; her father is a music professor, her mother studied opera and her own songs often feel spiritual, less so by any religious connotation and more as a hymn-like, archival record of Beckerman’s own past, present, and future.

Her first release on Winspear, Long is the Tunnel, contemplates how the people you meet impact the pathway you travel. Through songs like the poignant “Somewhere in the Middle,” the lilting “Challenger Deep” and the surreal “Big Bird,” the EP paints a distinctive collage between traditional songwriting and modern turns of phrase that remain spellbound in the unadulterated luster of self-discovery. The seven songs read as both patchwork memories/diary entries and elegies to those in her life. Co-produced by Ruben Radlauer of Model/Actriz, Hayden Ticehurst and Artur Szerejko, the final versions of these initial demos also saw contributions from Lewis Evans of Black Country, New Road (saxophone), Maddy Leshner (keys) and Finnegan Shanahan (violin), adding to the gleaming instrumentation that makes each song sound like a world within itself.

Long is the Tunnel is filled with hyperreal imagery that denotes a form of escapism: two of the songs reference birds, which Beckerman describes as about being transfixed by something you can’t take your eyes off while also being able to leave at will. Long is the Tunnel prolongs this feeling of being completely immersed: by desire, emotion, and fantasy, though the somber melancholy of her love songs are often more manifestations to her internal self than anyone else.