Anna Wise first entered into public consciousness as the sultry voice featured on Kendrick Lamar’s last three projects, such as To Pimp A Butterfly’s ‘Institutionalized’ and ‘These Walls’. Since then, the well connected chanteuse has showcased her songwriting on two powerful concoctions, The Feminine: Act I and The Feminine: Act II, in which Wise delves deeper into her mystical neo-soul style and provides platforms for discussions on sexism, feminism and what it means to identify as a woman. The controversially titled ‘Bitchslut’ was never going to go unnoticed, but beyond inflammatory expressions, people have begun to take note of Anna Wise’s broadening genre range and that ever present vocal. ‘Balance In All’, taken from her latest song collection, is one such example with hymnal proto-jazz instrumentation and an airy production. This organic sound is reflected in the forest backdrop of her second self-directed video, inspired by the Muir Woods close to her family home in Northern California. With our gaze firmly on Wise’s angelic performance, this artist traces her roots back to the girl singing to the trees, for no one but herself. - HT