Anjimile Chithambo, known artistically as Anjimile, has joined the 4AD family and released his debut for the label, a one-off single entitled ‘Stranger’.
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Of the single, Anjimile says the following: “'Stranger' is something of a confrontation between my past and present selves in relationship to my trans identity. I started testosterone about 3 or 4 years ago, and it’s been simultaneously liberating and alarming to note the changes to my mind and body over the years. 'Stranger' is an admission to myself that, while I welcome all of those changes - especially the deepening effect of testosterone on my singing and speaking voice - it’s still scary and there is a degree of internal ambivalence to my transition. In transitioning I lost, or gave up, a part of myself. And that is hard to reconcile. 'Stranger' is an attempt at some semblance of reconciliation, I guess.”
‘Stranger’, which was recorded with producer/pianist Thomas Bartlett and songwriter/producer Gabe Goodman, is the first new original music from Anjimile since his 2020 debut album, Giver Taker. Giver Taker was released to critical acclaim, and by the end of 2020 was included on a number of year-end round-up lists from Hanif Abdurraqib, NPR, Rolling Stone, SPIN, KEXP, and many more. In addition to a number of streamed performances throughout the pandemic – including a KEXP session, a performance at Sylvan Esso’s Betty’s studio, a round table with the likes of Perfume Genius, and more – Anjimile also performed sets at Hopscotch Music Festival and Treefort Music Festival in 2021. He is currently working on a new album.
Raised in Dallas, Texas to Malawi-born parents and now transplanted to North Carolina, Anjimile knows that study and appreciation are as important as practice when it comes to music. When it comes to composition, Anjimile draws upon everything they’ve learned, from the African pop beloved by their parents to his time in youth choir, and later influences from ‘80s music and even contemporaries/now label-mates Big Thief. Lyrically, he delves deeply and thoughtfully into the human condition; from his own perspective, Giver Taker addressed the conflict between their faith and life as a trans person, as well as the hopeful victory of overcoming addiction. The following year, Anjimile released their Reunion EP, which included orchestral re-imaginings of select Giver Taker tracks by composer Daniel Hart (Polyphonic Spree, St. Vincent) as well as vocals from Jay Som, Sasami, and Lomelda. In September 2021 he also released his cover of Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s ‘Ever New’, which was the accompanying B-side to a TV On the Radio cover helmed by Bartees Strange.
