Dean Mayo Davies: What is it about Bergen, your hometown in Norway, that produces so many successful musicians? 

Annie: Hmm... I don’t know, I’m not really sure. It’s weird because we don’t really have a Bergen ‘sound’, like the ‘Paris sound’ or the ‘Manchester sound’ that unites everyone. Instead we have a lot of very diverse artists, like Skatebård and Royksopp.

DMD: I do think that there is one thing you all have in common though, and that’s a sense of melody. Maybe its subliminal but you all seem to have an ear for effervescent tunes... 

A: Yeah, that’s probably true! What’s great is that it’s a really small city so you don’t have the record companies hanging over you. You don’t feel the pressure when you’re doing something  - it’s up to you to get up and go to the studio and create.

DMD: Can you tell us about the new album, ‘Don’t Stop’? Who have you been working with on this record? 

A: I started off with Timo Kaukolampi, who’s a Finnish producer I also worked with on the last album, Anniemal. He’s really great - we’ve toured a lot together and when I’m starting stuff from scratch I always play it to him. We worked on four songs and then I met up with Brian Higgins [aka Xenomania, the superproducer behind much of Girls Aloud’s back catalogue aswell as hits for Kylie and Sugababes] who ended up producing six songs on the record - more than we expected!

DMD: Everything he touches seems to turn to gold...

A: He’s good. I also worked on two songs with Richard X aswell, so the record is essentially a combination of these three people and myself.

DMD: Girls Aloud sing backing vocals on (future single) ‘My Love is Better’, don’t they? How did that happen?

A: They were in same studio at the time, working on their own tracks - it was literally a case of asking them if they were up for it and they were. But it still hasn’t been cleared with their management so it may be they won’t feature on the finished mix. We had a lot of fun though...

DMD: Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand contributed the guitar hook too... 

A: He’s amazing. He played on two songs actually - ‘My Love Is Better’ and another one called ‘Loco’. I met him a couple of times before, I think he’s such a great musician. I was so pleased when he came up with some ideas for the project. 

DMD: I think ‘My Love Is Better’ seems an acute summary of what you’re about, it showcases your openness to the way you make music. Have you played any of it live yet? 

A: We actually played yesterday! I was a bit nervous because we’re doing three test gigs, here in Finland, where I’m speaking to you from. But I live in Berlin and I lost my passport so I was two days late for practice.

DMD: What seems to be the early crowd favourite?

A: A song called ‘What Do You Want For Breakfast’! We call it ‘the Breakfast song’! It probably sounds a bit strange but it works really, really well live - it’s really funny to hear the crowd singing ‘What’ya want for breakkkkkkfaaaaast?!’ together. It’s about a girl and a guy who’ve spent the night together and in the morning the girl is like ‘Come on! Let’s get out, enjoy the day and have some fun...’

DMD: You have so many eclectic influences, can we talk about the process of songwriting? Do you start with a style in mind for each tune, or is it a more holistic experience?

A: It depends. With the first single ‘I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me’, I had an idea that I wanted to do a song inspired by ‘Kiss’ by Prince - that kind of tempo, with the guitar; a bit slow but you can still dance to it.  Some people say they can hear the influence, some can’t but that was at least my intention when I made that track. AND I have a guitar that is a little bit similar to Prince’s!   

DMD: Do you see DJing as the other part of your output as an artist, where you can give crowds another insight into your world through other people’s records as well as your own?

A: Very much. I do it for fun, but it makes me think about sound when it comes to production. Basslines too. It’s really important as you can have a good song but if the sound isn’t great, it’s just gonna sound crap played out.

DMD: What are your fail-safe records that never leave your DJ box?

A: I’m a really big fan of Zongamin, I always play his stuff. You have to have some old Madonna in there though and I’m a big fan of ESG...

DMD: ESG are incredible. You’ll never go wrong with them in your set...

A: Absolutely! And if you do, well, you’re in the wrong place.



DMD.