Daneshevskaya

“Luscious, dynamic, baroque indie rock.” — Consequence

“The shoegazey instrumentation is the perfect backdrop for [Daneshevskaya’s] emotional vocals, alternating between fast and slow, conveying the capricious nature of life.” — UPROXX

“While Daneshevskaya is a solo artist, her set was far from individualistic—her music feels like an act of love, something meant to be shared.” — COPY

Daneshevskaya — the project of New York musician Anna Daneshevskaya Beckerman — will release her Winspear debut, Long Is The Tunnel, on November 10th, and it’s “shaping up to be pretty darn good” (Stereogum). Today, Beckerman presents its final pre-release single, “ROY G BIV,” alongside a visualizer. Produced by Hayden Ticehurst, Artur Szerejko and Model Actriz’ Ruben Radlauer, who also mixed and engineered, “ROY G BIV” opens Beckerman’s pristine vocals and intimate piano accompaniment by longtime friend and collaborator Madeline Leshner. As strings wash in, the song begins to shapeshift, anchored by Beckerman’s poetic images and catchy melodies. “It’s all in rainbow order,” she sings, swathed in instrumentation. “It’s all in perfect order on the way down.”

“This song was definitely inspired by working with kids and seeing how their worlds hinge upon small discrepancies,” says Beckerman, who works as a pre-school social worker. “I always love when kids instinctually put things in order, and I could see a lot of the time how putting things in the right order calmed them. I think adults do that too in their own way.”

Following a beautiful stream of music — “Big Bird,” which was deemed Best New Indie Music by Uproxx, the “multi-faceted” (Paste) “Somewhere In The Middle,” and live favorite “Challenger Deep” — Beckerman will celebrate the release of Long Is The Tunnel with her debut headlining New York City show on Thursday, November 16th at Stone Circle Theatre. Beckerman will be joined by Anastasia Coope, with tickets on sale here.

Beckerman grew up in New York, the youngest child in a family that pursued art as both a profession and personal obsession. Her father was a pianist and musicologist, her mother an opera singer, and her brothers each played a variety of instruments. Similarly, her grandmother, a poet, encouraged her literary pursuits. When Beckerman decided to post music online, she used her Russian-Jewish middle name — Daneshevskaya (pronounced Dawn-uh-shev-sky-uh) — as a tribute to her family. 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.

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 Radlauer, Hayden Ticehurst (Model/Actriz, Dirt Buyer), and Artur Szerejko, Long Is The Tunnel also features contributions from Lewis Evans (Black Country, New Road), who Beckerman recently supported on their North American tour.

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.”