Is ‘Annie Yash’ your real name ?
My real name is Anna Yashchenkova, but I found it kind of hard to pronounce and remember, so I shortened it to Yash
Where are you based ?
I`m based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Despite the hard times in the country and many people immigrating, I`ve decided to stay.
What influenced you into pursuing a musical career ?
My father has been collecting vinyl records his whole life. Now he has around four thousand vinyls in his collection. There’s always been a lot of music around, in the house, but no one played any instruments. It was kind of a family curse, I`ve decided to break.
Who are your musical influences ?
It all started from The Beatles, of course. When I was around 12, I picked up an Abbey Road CD and listened to it for a week, all day long. Later, fell in love with Jack White and Alison Mosshart. As a child, I spent a lot of time in the theater with my mom. We watched The Nutcracker, Carmen, Swan Lake and many more ballet classics. So Tchaikovsky is definitely on the list as well.
How would you describe your sound ?
I like to think about it as the trip through the ice of the Northern Sea. My grandpa was an arctic sailor and he used to tell millions of stories about his travels in the cold waters. So it is a mix of the cold reality which is upon us now and the warm hope for the better times to come.
Tell us about your new single ‘Wrong Whole’, what’s it about ?
Wrong Whole is a song about feeling alone and lost. But sometimes you need to be alone in your journey and be against things everyone considers right. Often, being wrong and even bad in the eyes of others it is what makes you whole. Continue to fight for who you are, no matter what, where and how. The song was written a year after a painful breakup. It was the sudden (rare) feeling that everything’s gonna be alright with me and I wanted to save it, to have this feeling canned.
If you could do a duet with any artist, who would it be ?
Jack White is the first person to come to mind. It would also be a pleasure to play with Jacob Collier. Man is an absolute genius.
Do you write and produce your own music ? Describe your creative process.
Yes. I record songs by myself in the bedroom and arrange them as well. The only instrument I can’t play is drums. So I use drummer-friend skills here or samples. Sometimes the lyric comes first. Sometimes it is the feeling or visual idea. Sometimes it is a melody I catch in my head (or in the noises of the city). When the first seed is found the rest of the song just grows around it in a few days.
9. Where was your single recorded ?
In the bedroom. On the snowy, cold day.
10. Where can we find you online ?
I mostly use instagram @devil.level to connect with people. Great platform. Just love it.
Find out more about Annie Yash
Anna Yashchenkova (born August 15, 1994), known professionally as Annie Yash, is a Russian singer, musician, songwriter. Born and raised in Saint Petersburg, Russia Annie Yash began her music career as a member of Boring Story band in 2017. She is also a member of Coosherie, avant garde-jazz she founded together with her boyfriend before starting a solo career. Her debut solo EP, Pier Wheel, was released in January 2023. Besides music, Annie Yash has written and directed a short film, Ida-Virumaa, in 2019 and has been a creator of a few music videos.
Early life
Yash was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia on August 15, 1994. On the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival. Her mother and father are chimichist. Her granddad from the mother side was a Soviet polar explorer, who sailed on the famous icebreaker Otto Smidt. Her father is a keen enthusiast of vinyl collecting. Annie spent her childhood traveling around the world, looking through the piles of vinyl records in small shops.
The legend is saying she first heard the Beatles White Album inside her mother’s belly at the age of five months. As a child, Annie was fond of D’Artagnan and Three Musketeers and used to sing all the songs from the musical. She began playing her first real guitar at age ten, but abandoned it and dived into drawing.
Her granddad always wanted her to be a painter, so she graduated from St. Petersburg Children’s Art School at the age of fourteen. She attended the Saint Petersburg State University of Culture and Art, studying art management and Saint Petersburg School of the New Cinema studying film directing.
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