Exclusive! Anna Rose about her original take on 'My Body Is A Cage' (interview)

KOvideo: Your cover of Arcade Fire’s "My Body Is A Cage" has garnered a lot of press and thrust you into the spotlight. How are you handling all of the sudden attention?
Anna Rose: Honestly, it feels really good! The press has enabled me to play more shows to a wider audience and introduce more people to my music, which is a rare gift. I just feel really excited and happy to share the music I write and perform, so the more I get to do that, the better!

KOvideo: What does "My Body Is A Cage" mean to you?
Anna Rose: It means feeling trapped inside your own body, either with self-imposed limitations or unavoidable circumstances that have been imposed upon you. Your heart and mind ache to be somewhere else but the body has another agenda. I was thinking a lot about the slow decay of the human body while I was recording the track. The aging process, disease, sudden death, etc...it's always been fascinating to me.

KOvideo: You recently filmed a video for the track. Was this your first music video? What was the experience like? Did you create the concept? Had you ever acted before?
Anna Rose: This was actually my 2nd music video, the first being for the song, "Picture," off of my debut album, Nomad. The concept was all Moh Azima's, the director, and it was very exciting for me to look at the lyrics of the song from another angle in order to portray that character. His passion for this video is really what made it so fantastic and it was that excitement that pushed me to attempt to do some acting. I had done a little acting as a kid but I'm pretty sure I was horrible. I also had to drive stick, something which I had done only once when I was 16, so I essentially learned how to drive stick shift in the middle of the night in Brooklyn in a car I could barely reach the pedals on without my glasses to help me see. Not to mention the camera pointed at me. It was pretty exciting/terrifying. I would love to see the footage they didn't use so I could have a good laugh at myself. My ridiculousness aside, I felt so honored to be working with Moh and it was so amazing to see the final product. I'm really proud of this video.

KOvideo: Your new album is close to completion. Can you tell us about the recording process? Does the album have a working title?
Anna Rose: I love being in the studio for so many reasons. In a lot of ways, it feels as much like home as the stage does for me. Recording this album has been so much fun because I've been playing with my band for a few years now, all the same guys, so they know me well enough to know what I'll love and what I'll threaten their life for doing with (or to) their instruments. They're incredible musicians, so it makes it very easy to work on arrangements and flesh out the songs. The album does have a working title, however I would like it to remain the title for the release, so I'm going to keep it to myself. This is a very exciting record for me.

KOvideo: How is your new album different from 2010’s Nomad, sonically and lyrically?
Anna Rose: Heavier, more blues-influenced musically. It still has those singer/songwriter moments, but everything is shrouded in the concept that I've been working with. Lyrically, the concept has been influencing specific phrases I'll use or the direction from which I'll approach a topic. It's been very interesting for me to work on these songs within one time period, whereas Nomad was comprised of songs I had written up until the point when I was able to release my first album.

KOvideo: Can we expect any more covers from you?
Anna Rose: Absolutely! I love performing covers! I have a bunch of them posted on my YouTube page (I think it's AnnaRoseMusic). There are some pretty epic ones on there.

KOvideo: You played piano before you fell in love with the guitar. Is there any chance we will ever hear an Anna Rose piano track?
Anna Rose: Absolutely. There's a track I initially wrote on piano on the next album! I'm rediscovering the piano at the moment. I also bought this old children's accordion that I've been messing around with. Anything to stimulate a good song from coming forth.

KOvideo: What is your favorite song to perform live?

Anna Rose: It changes every show. That's what makes live performances so incredible!

KOvideo: In a recent interview with Leading Us Absurd, you said, "Honestly, I cannot remember a time when I didn’t want to pursue music as my career." If making music was suddenly no longer an option for you, what would you love to do?
Anna Rose: I've spent a lot of time thinking about this actually, especially in time periods during high school and college (before I dropped out to pursue music full-time). I was a dancer and choreographer when I was younger, so I could see myself doing that. I would still really like to come back to choreography, actually. I've always felt that dance is my discipline and music is my freedom. I hold both forms of art very close to me. I've also thought a lot about becoming a yoga instructor and creating a modified version of yoga that's more applicable to dancers, who have different strengths and weaknesses than most other yoga students or practitioners.

KOvideo: Who and what are you listening to right now? Are there any records that came out in 2011 that you really love?
Anna Rose: Okay so we're talking new music...a constant is Radiohead, The King of Limbs. So inspiring and humbling. The Kooks' new record, Junk of the Heart, is really great. I've been listening to that a lot. Florence + The Machine's Ceremonials is an album I'm just starting to dig into. Watch the Throne (Kanye West & Jay Z). 21 (Adele) is an obvious choice but a really great one, I think. I really love the TV on the Radio album, Nine Types of Light. Today I intend to listen to the new Tom Waits album, Bad as Me.