Don't Stop

Annie calls it "pop with strange edges;" those sounds both immediately listenable and utterly beguiling, mainstream and underground all at once. On her second album this "pop with strange edges" is also pop with twists and eccentricities so surprising that the tunes persistently demand a double take. Sometimes expressive, sometimes funny but always totally fresh and utterly human, Annie's new album Don't Stop puts on something of a show. Recorded over the last two years, Don't Stop pulls off the tricky task of pleasing Annie's existing fans while, just maybe, making her a bit of a household name. Think of that first album, which sold more than 100,000 copies and established Annie's name as one to watch throughout Europe, America and the Far East, as the blueprint, or as a speculative "Property Of Annie" stamp on pop's plump rump; now think of Don't Stop as a faithful amplification of Anniemal's winning charms. The result? A sound you'll find everywhere from Hoxton houseparties to the distant, absent-minded whistle of a Burgess Hill binman. Complementing Anne Lilia Berge Strand's pick 'n' mix, Pitchfork-to-Popjustice, genrehopping pincer movement are an array of handpicked associates: Don't Stop reunites Annie with Timo Kaukolampi and Richard X - collaborators from the first album - and introduces a new friends such as Xenomania, Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand and Paul Epworth. It's an eleven-course feast for the modern musical connoisseur but while it's so fond of ticking boxes that you wouldn't be surprised to find it outside Boots with a clipboard asking for five minutes of your time, it's also an effortless and organic blend with Annie centre stage.