The cast of Stranger Things aren’t the only ones burning their creative wicks at both ends—Orlando filmmaker Sally Potter’s return to the director’s chair for the forthcoming Alma follows her first two studio albums, 2023’s Pink Bikini and this week’s Anatomy. The latter record arrives on Friday on the heels of Earth Day last month, with the project’s central messaging focusing on the lapse in logic that leads global capitalists to believe that life on our planet can be sustained as we continue to suck it dry of natural resources.
This theme is introduced on the album’s opening title track, with Potter’s sauntering vocals reciting omniscient lyrics intended to remind the listener that we’re not only all rooted to the same planet, but even to each other—as reflected in the song’s diversity of backing instrumentation. “‘Anatomy’ spells out the premise of the album; the simple truth that we are not separate from the earth, or from each other,” the singer confirms. “We are intimately connected on every level, for without the earth and our relationship to it, humans cannot survive. The earth is, in that sense, our body: ‘She is my anatomy; without her I cease to be.’ An arrangement of instruments that originate from different cultures (balalaika, accordion, piano, cello, electric guitar, and bodhran) echo this cry of love that is a celebration as well as a warning.”
The song lands with a studio-set visual of Potter and her backing band of musicians playing through the track—check that out below, and pre-order Anatomy here before it drops tomorrow via Bella Union.
