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Singer-songwriter Ani Mari’s debut solo album, girlfriend, explores the ambiguities of coming of age in a beautifully precarious world. Across ten warmly combative tracks, her songs fight for grace and connection amidst the anxieties, desires, heartbreaks, and oftentimes wearying joie de vivre of being young in America’s heartland.

Though just 21-years-old, Ani Mari has been performing solo, with her backing band, and with her folk duo, Ani & Kora, around her home state of Michigan for almost a decade, along the way sharing stages with The Accidentals, Lindsay Lou, May Erlewine, and Joshua Davis, among many others. On tracks like “whitefish bay” and “the prettiest things,” listeners will hear echoes of the forests and waters of the Upper Peninsula where she was raised, and the bluegrass and folk musical influences she grew up around. While the title track, “girlfriend,” might triangulate Ani Mari’s current temperature somewhere between Liz Phair, Waxahachee, and Ratboys, comparisons ultimately fall short. Compelling, alive, humming, and hungry, her indie-folk songwriting is 100% original, and definitely not to be missed.

girlfriend was produced, recorded, and mixed by Erik Koskinen, mastered by Tom Garneau, and released by production house Real-Phonic Records, St. Paul, Minnesota. Songs by Ani Mari (guitar, banjo, lead vocals). Backing musicians include long-time collaborator Kora Melia (violin, mandolin, backing vocals), Michael Michaud (bass), Jack Harris (drums), Ruby Howard (cello, backing vocals), and Koskinen (guitar).

When not traveling and performing, Ani Mari lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she attends the University of Michigan.