Anya Marina takes it Slow and Steady

By Keidra Chaney
Published: February 10th, 2009 | 7:00pm

L.A-based singer–songwriter Anya Marina is proof that first impressions can be deceiving. A honey-voiced singer with a penchant for acoustic pop, it’s tempting to lump her in with all the other winsome, guitar-strumming female singers whose music eventually finds its way into a coffeehouse open mic or a TV-show montage.

And while you’ve probably heard a song or two from Marina if you’re a fan of Grey’s Anatomy or reality TV staples like The Real World or The Hills, take a closer listen. Her deceptively fluffy indie pop is served up with a healthy dose of self-awareness and candor. Take the lyrics for “Move You,” the first single from Marina’s latest album Slow and Steady Seduction: Phase II (Chop Shop), which on her website Marina revealed is inspired by a quote from psychologist Charles Jung: “Bending spoons with my mind / Manifesting men of all kinds / In my spare time. But oh, how I struggled in vain / To solve this riddle with my brain / When the answer's in my hands.”

It’s a refreshing level of emotional honesty that seems to come naturally to Anya Marina, who has a knack for articulating love, heartache, and longing in a heartfelt but never hackneyed way. She’s not just drawing her inspiration from the abstract, though. Marina’s got years of real-world experience and stories to bring her words and music to life, having spent several years in L.A. working as an actress — she starred in the 2001 indie film 100 Girls — and as a radio DJ in San Diego, before focusing on her songwriting.

“I’ve been thinking about how my time as an actress and DJ has really lent itself to performing music,” she said, phoning in from her car en route to St. Louis after opening for the Virgins in Chicago the night before. “Rather than just strumming and singing, I’m able to really express the emotion of the lyrics and connect with the crowd.”

It may also be why Marina’s been able to adapt so quickly to the life of a full-time touring musician — she just left her full-time gig as DJ at KBXT in San Diego last July. Marina’s aware of the irony inherent in a former radio DJ getting her first big break as a musician from television — she’s signed to Chop Shop Records, the Atlantic-partnered label run by veteran TV music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas (The O.C., Gossip Girl, and, of course, Grey’s Anatomy) — but she’s thoughtful about the exposure and what it means for new artists looking to find an audience.

“With so many people on the go, they don’t rely on the radio as much for music, they get turned onto new music in different ways: commercials, TV shows, YouTube,” she says. “I’ve turned down [advertisers] that don’t align with my music before. As long as I’m comfortable about how my song is being used, I’m happy to have my songs associated with such great work … and I love working with Alexandra. She understands my music and knows how to pair it with a scene that really brings the meaning across.”

Marina’s collaborations on Slow and Steady Seduction have been equally satisfying. Moving away from her acoustic-based sound, she’s teamed up with Louis XIV guitarist Brian Karscig and Spoon vocalist-guitarist Britt Daniel as producers to bring a rockier edge to her songs. You can hear it in songs like the trippy “Afterparty at Jimmy’s,” which pairs Marina’s squeaky vocals with a sexy, glam-rock stomp. “It was actually intended to be a Louis XIV song with a girl singing,” reveals Marina. “But when I recorded it, we really liked how it turned out and it made the cut [for the album.]”

The move from acoustic singer-songwriter to swaggering indie-rock vocalist seems like a big change, but not so much for Marina, whose career evolution from actress to broadcaster to musician appears to have moved seamlessly. And it seems that Marina’s multifaceted career is actually a family trait. The daughter of a psychologist dad and a Russian Literature professor mom (which would explain the Jung reference as well as the literary flair), Marina’s maternal grandmother was a radio broadcaster in communist Russia, while her father’s mom was a professional piano player. “So I actually come from a long line of musicians, broadcasters, and performers,” she said. “It’s funny that I got into all of it for my career — or maybe it makes perfect sense!”

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Anya Marina MySpace.