Ahead of her performance at this year’s S┼Án Festival, I had the opportunity to sit down with Welsh electronic musician Ani Glass, and chat all things South Wales, creative processes, and the genius of the late, great Martin Rushent.

You released your debut solo album, Mirores, in 2020, but you were in a lot of bands before that; what’s your musical journey been like, and how has going solo changed that?

I started in uni, I was in a girl band called Genie Queen, and I think that that was quite influential. My manager at the time was Andy McCluskey from OMD, so heavy eighties electronic influence, but the band was RnB, pop – I loved it!  Then, when I moved to London and Brighton, I was in The Pipettes with my sister, and the second album was produced by Martin Rushent, who was again a massive influential force in eighties electronic music; he produced the Human League, and many other bands, and I think I felt subconsciously at the time that eighties electronic music was part of what I was going to do. And then when I came back to Cardiff, I was still in the zone of wanting to be in a band with friends – so we started a band. Musically, I’d probably say it wasn’t too far from what The Pipettes was, because I really enjoyed being in The Pipettes. It was like a fifties girl-group influenced band, so I think [my next band] was just a progression from that for me. 

 Then when you’re in your mid-twenties, when we all start having responsibilities and bills to pay, it becomes more difficult to fit in practices and gigs, and there’s a lot of logistical issues when there’s a lot of people in a band. It just became easier, logistically – not creatively, just logistically – to just do it by myself. So when I released a few EPs (I say a few, I put out one EP – I’m not that prolific!), and worked with a producer, it became apparent from a practical point of view, not that I had a massive longing or anything, that it would make sense to start producing my own music. From that point onwards I became really interested in sound, in building my own sound, and then I released my first album, which I produced and really enjoyed making, and am really proud of.

 I’m just putting the final touches now on my second album, and that’s really exciting! I sometimes get really envious of people who write really fast and release loads of music. How do they do that? Where do they find that inspiration? For me, it just takes a long time to sort of build a body of work, I like to have sat with ideas for a while, to let them marinate, and that’s why it kind of takes me a bit longer to make stuff.

 Soon I’ll be playing S┼Án – which I’m really excited about. I haven’t played for a few years, and it’s gonna be great I think!

I feel like your album is really grounded in South Wales’ landscape and culture; how important is that local environment to your music?

 Absolutely, it’s very important. I think probably more important at the time, because I’d lived away in England for a long time, and I guess lost touch with all aspects of being at home – the language, the culture, the landscape. And there had been a lot of changes over the years. Buildings disappeared, new ones popped up, and it wasn’t necessarily that I didn’t like anything, I just had to build that sense of connection again. I related a lot of that to the architecture, because it really impacts on your relationship with a place. If there’s loads of high rise buildings, there’s fewer people in the streets, and you don’t feel as safe, so you might change the way you walk somewhere. We do that instinctively, I don’t think we actually say “I’m not gonna walk down that way, ÔÇÿcos there’s no people,” – you just gravitate towards another direction. It changes your relationship with a place, so I guess the album was a journey of reconnecting with my home, with Cardiff, with the culture, and with the language, as well. I lived in London, and when you live there you just don’t hear about anywhere else in the world other than London. You can almost forget who you are if you’re not careful – I completely lost connection with home, so it was that journey, I think, of reconnecting with home. 

You perform mostly in Welsh, and some in Cornish too; was that a natural instinct for you, or a conscious decision?

 I think both, to be honest. Again, because I started my musical journey in England, obviously Welsh didn’t come up at all, so everyone was in English-speaking bands and that’s what I did. And I came home, and it didn’t really reflect my life any more. Obviously, a lot of my friends are Welsh-speakers, so I was speaking more and more Welsh, and you kind of just want to reflect your own life, and just singing in English wouldn’t have made sense. But I also was influenced by the fact that although there was a lot of great music being made in Welsh, there was very little pop music, and especially with girls and solo artists at the time – there’s loads more now, which is amazing – so it was also a reflection of that, of wanting to add to Welsh language culture in my own way.

Has it created limitations for you, or do you find it makes things easier in some ways – from a creative and a practical point of view?

 Do you know what, I think a lot of it depends on what you’re in it for, or what you want out of it. Obviously, when you start bands when you’re like eighteen, nineteen, twenty, you’re like, “I wanna get signed, I wanna tour the world!”. As you get older, it’s not that you don’t want those things, but you start to reevaluate why you make things, and for me if I feel confident and happy in what I’m making creatively, I guess I’m then less concerned about what comes of it. Obviously, everyone wants success; everyone wants to be able to maintain a living through creative output, but it’s not always possible. That for me is secondary, I suppose, to what I’m making. 

You’ve played S┼Án before – how were those experiences for you, and are you excited to be performing again?

 Do you know what? It’s been really great. Technically, it’s gonna be the fourth time I’ve played, because I played with The Pipettes years and years ago which was very good. Then I played with my band, The Lovely Wars, and then what’s really exciting this year is when I perform, the girls who were in the band with me are gonna sing with me, and the last time we played together was ten years ago! So we’re all really excited, it’s gonna be nice to not be lonely onstage. The first time I played as a solo artist was in 2019, just before everything went nuts in 2020, and that was really fun. I’m really looking forward to it, it’s gonna be great, and the lineup looks amazing, so hopefully I’ll be able to see a lot of other bands as well.

Is there anyone in particular you’re excited about?

 I quite like to just turn up at a venue and see what’s on, I prefer to take it all in that way. Obviously there’ll be bands I’d love to see – Bill Ryder-Jones I’d love to see, because I haven’t seen him live. Other than that, I just like falling into venues and seeing what’s there. It’s a good way to find new music, so I don’t wanna curate myself too much. I think that’s also just me being lazy as well! But I always feel about art in general, even if it’s not up your street, you can still appreciate it for what it is, and be like, “well, it’s not for me, but it’s really good, and at least I know who this band is now.” You might see names that you recognise, but not know what they sound like, and then you can either think “that’s great, I’ll listen to more of that,” or “not for me, and thank you!”. It’s all a great experience, I love hearing and seeing new music and art.

Are you quite involved with the South Wales music scene?

 I guess I have been. Its difficult, you know, as an artist when you start off, you do tend to do more gigs, because you want to get your name out there, and then I suppose because I’m more focused (for the moment, at least) on finishing my album, I almost don’t wanna do too many gigs, because I just wanna get it done, and then as soon as I’ve finished the album and released it, I’ll be like “I’m back,” – not that anyone will notice! But in my head, I’ve been away for a long time.

So the album is coming out

Next year, definitely next year, I haven’t worked out exactly when yet.

And you’re planning to play that live once it’s released?

Absolutely. I’m trying to think more creatively in terms of how to present it, and in a way that makes sense to the sound. I’m still working on that.

Is that quite challenging, as a solo female performer, in a scene that’s quite band dominated?

I think probably more so in the past, or maybe I just don’t pay attention or don’t notice now. But I get jealous of bands sometimes, because they all get to hang out with their friends in a green room, and I’m just sat there alone with a book, or most probably on the phone.

Finally, who would you say are your biggest influences musically? Who inspires you? 

I probably would go back to Martin Rushent, not just in terms of his output as a producer, but I learned so much from that recording process. Being in a band, especially one like The Pipettes, can be one of the best things and the worst things; you get to see the very high highs but also the low lows of the music industry. It’s difficult, navigating a creative project with seven people, but someone like Martin who’s seen it all through the eighties just knows how to deal with people. His understanding that being a producer isn’t just about understanding how to produce great sound, it’s about being good with people and getting the best out of people. I remember when I was, for example, doing vocal takes, and I would’ve done – let’s class it as a┬ádreadful┬átake. He’d say, “sorry, sorry, I just didn’t press play, can we just go again with that one?”, and I’d be like, thank God! But then I was listening in when other people would sing, and he’d do the same when the take wasn’t a good one. I just thought, he’s so clever! That time of my life was just so formative in many ways, so I will always revert back to him. Now when I write songs, I think: does Martin think there’s a chorus in there? Do I need to add a bit, should I take some stuff out? Have I put in too many layers? Do I need to edit? He does quite often pop up in my head when I’m creating.

Interview by Polly Brewster