Anna Coogan is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter.

Biography

After studying opera at the

Mozarteum University of Salzburg Mozarteum University Salzburg (German language, German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the "Mozarteum" name in Salzburg, Salzburg municipality; th ...

for a year, Coogan went to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

to work as a

limnologist Limnology ( ; ) is the study of inland aquatic ecosystems. It includes aspects of the biological, chemical, physical, and geological characteristics of fresh and saline, natural and man-made bodies of water. This includes the study of lakes, ...

. In 2012 she moved to

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

, where she is a visiting lecturer in music at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. In 2020 she moved to

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Recordings

Anna Coogan started her musical career in Seattle, and formed the band North 19 in 2004 with Travis Beard and Kevin Burkett. She developed her "bittersweet Americana" style in this band, which released two albums and was reviewed in '' No Depression''. JD Foster produced her first solo album, ''The Nocturnal Among Us'', released in 2010. The songs on her next album, ''The Wasted Ocean'', were inspired by haunting tales of shipwrecks and isolation. Musicians contributing to the 2011 album (produced by Evan Brubacker) include singer Edie Cary, violist

Eyvind Kang Eyvindur Y. Kang (born 23 June 1971) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. His primary instrument is viola, but has also performed on violin, tuba, keyboard instruments, keyboards and others. In addition to his solo work, Kang has w ...

and electric guitarist Daniele Fiaschi. Coogan and Fiaschi released ''The Nowhere, Rome Sessions'' in 2012. Coogan renewed her collaboration with JD Foster in 2013 and co-wrote a collection of new songs with the producer and multi-instrumentalist for their album ''The Birth of the Stars'', recorded in October 2014 at Electric Wilburland studio in

Newfield, New York Newfield is a town in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 5,184 at the 2020 census. The town's name is derived from the many unoccupied tracts of land that were once in the town. The Town of Newfield is in the southwest ...

. Her next album, ''The Lonely Cry Of Space & Time,'' was released in early 2017 and subsequently issued on vinyl. Coogan contributed vocals to three

Johnny Dowd Johnny Dowd (born John David Dowd; March 29, 1948, in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American alternative country musician from Ithaca, New York. Typical of his style are experimental, noisy breaks in his songs and strong gothic (in the sense of dark ...

albums, ''That's Your Wife on the Back of My Horse'' (2015), ''Execute American Folklore'' (2016) and ''Twinkle, Twinkle'' (2018).

Touring

Coogan tours regularly in the United States and Europe, including venues in Great Britain, the Netherlands and Germany with Daniele Fiaschi; and performs at international festivals such as the Blue Ball Festival in

Luzern Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

, The Maverick Festival in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, United Kingdom; the

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Americana Festival and

Celtic Connections The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of trad ...

. She has also performed on

Daytrotter Daytrotter was a recording studio, music venue and subscription-based music discovery website located in Atlanta, United States. It hosted recording sessions with indie music acts. The original studio in Rock Island, Illinois, was founded in 20 ...

and on major European radio stations including

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and d ...

and

WDR WDR may refer to: * Waddell & Reed (stock ticker: WDR), an American asset management and financial planning company * Walt Disney Records, an American record label of the Disney Music Group * WDR neuron, a type of neuron involved in pain signalli ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. A 2012 European tour was joined by Seattle-based songwriter Joy Mills. In 2014, Coogan formed a trio with JD Foster and drummer Brian Wilson, aka Willie B., (whose credits include playing with Johnny Dowd and

Neko Case Neko Richelle Case ( ; born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case's singing voice has been described by contemporaries and critics as a "flamethrower", "a pow ...

), for a tour of the Netherlands and Germany. Coogan and Willie B. toured Europe again in 2015 and 2017. She toured the U.K. in January 2018 and performed as a member of the Johnny Dowd Band on a European tour in February 2018.

Film scores

In 2015, Coogan wrote a score for

Jean Epstein Jean Epstein (; 25 March 1897 – 2 April 1953) was a French filmmaker, film theorist, literary critic, and novelist. Although he is remembered today primarily for his adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's '' The Fall of the House of Usher'', he direc ...

and

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

's silent horror film ''

The Fall of the House of Usher "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839 in ''Burton's Gentleman's Magazine'', then included in the collection ''Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque'' in 1840. The short stor ...

'' to perform with Tzar (Willie B. and Michael Stark) at the Ithaca Fantastik Film Festival (IFFF). In March 2016, Coogan and Tzar performed an original score for the 1924 Soviet film '' Aelita, Queen of Mars'' at Cornell Cinema. Coogan wrote and performed a solo electric guitar score for

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

's ''

The Blood of a Poet ''The Blood of a Poet'' (, ) is a 1932 avant-garde film directed by Jean Cocteau, financed by Charles de Noailles and starring Enrique Riveros, a Chilean actor who had a successful career in European films. Photographer Lee Miller made her o ...

'' for the 2017 IFFF, for a screening Nov. 10 at Cinemapolis in Ithaca. She accompanied the Cocteau film with performances of the score on a tour of the United Kingdom in January 2018. Coogan wrote and performs a silent score for an episode of the detective serie

Beatrice Fairfax ''Beatrice Fairfax'' is an American Silent film, silent film serial directed and produced by Leopold Wharton and Theodore Wharton. First released on August 7, 1916 in film, 1916, the series consists of 15 weekly episodes and features the charac ...

from 1916 (A name fore the baby OR The Curse of Eve).

Critics

"Her voice is sweet and engaging but has enough salt in it to bring out some of the melancholy and brooding beauty of her lyrics." – The Telegraph (UK) "She sings about science and outerspace, environmental issues, family and love. While most artists would fall flat on their face when they tried to cover that much ground Coogan never loses focus. She is a poet, a singer and an ace guitarist, alternating between Chris Isaac and Ry Cooder, rowdy garage rock, mainstream pop, vocal pyrotechnics, and intricate soundscapes." – Here Comes The Flood (NL)

Discography

* ''Cowboys Lullaby,'' 2004 * ''Glory'' (with North 19), Tarnished Records, 2004 * ''Sleepwalker'' (with North 19), 2007 * ''The Nocturnal Among Us'', 2010 * ''The Wasted Ocean'', 2012 * ''The Nowhere, Rome Sessions'' (with Daniele Fiaschi), 2012 * ''Live at Little Rabbit Barn'' (with Daniele Fiaschi), 2013 * ''The Birth of the Stars'' (with JD Foster), Elevate, 2014 * ''Live at the Triple Door'' (with Willie B.), 2015 * ''The Lonely Cry Of Space & Time'' (with Willie B.), 2017

References

External links

*
List of albums
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coogan, Anna American women singer-songwriters American women guitarists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women