Anjimile Chithambo, who releases music as Anjimile, shared his great debut album Giver Taker last year. Today, the North Carolina–based musician announced he’s signed to 4AD and shared the new single “Stranger.” On the track, Anjimile uses that word to describe the distance between others and his relationship with himself as his identity has evolved over the years. As Anjimile’s understanding shifts, so does the sonic atmosphere around him—an eager, finger-plucked guitar leans into shuffled percussion; folk, alt-rock, and jazz collide together.
“’Stranger’ is something of a confrontation between my past and present selves in relationship to my trans identity,” Chithambo said of the one-off. “I started testosterone about three or four 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.”
Listen to “Stranger” below.
