No Depression Spotlight Artist Anaïs Mitchell on Recalling the 'Real World'

Anaïs Mitchell is No Depression's Spotlight artist for January 2022. In this video, she connects the essay she wrote for ND to her song "Real World," from her new, self-titled album, released Jan. 28. A tweet she posted asking followers what they remembered fondly about the time before our digital era garnered thousands of responses, and she shares some of them here.

[susangyorky]

Wow, what a sweet treat that this populated in my YouTube suggestions. How that even happens, I don't know. The 1970s were the best for riding your bike wherever it took you and getting "lost" but getting home just in time for dinner. What I miss is my mother screaming "Suzy" from the back door and me huffing it from the back yard passed the barn screaming "Yeah! Coming!" while out of breath.

[JustDave]

Thank you Anais, you are one of my touchstones in my struggles for my persistence of reality. You will always be important to me, and I started listening to your music quite a few years ago.

[savoyTheater]

Thank you for those analog reflections! It's been clear you have always been a gem all the way from Langdon St. to now... the light is clear and strong....

[feralhikes]

I LOVE the entire album! The lyrics go banging around my head like mantras, hour after hour. Thank you for the back story of this song. I think I'll walk up to Vermont (on the AT) to hear you in May!

[lizzabbott]

Enchanting ! Thank you for sharing these comments and your song. Important reminders !

[ianhepplewhite]

Yes, I’m old enough to remember what it was like way back to the 1950s U.K. as a boy, then through all the changes in society in the 1960s, the very different 1970’s into a brighter 1980s and during the 1990s my work in instrument/electrical engineering began to involve more & more work on a PC. We got our own PC in 1999 and so not only work but free time involved these new technologies. Then the iPad and iPhone wormed their way in & these two people bearing down on 70 are veterans of this digital work. But I still think back fondly to lying in the big unkempt field, just 10m from my home, in grass 3ft tall, on a sunny day with huge fluffy white clouds slowly drifting by and, best of all, hearing but not seeing, a Skylark singing somewhere beyond sight above me; just wonderful. 😁

[pebblesofwisdom]

I fell in love with this song on the first listen, but understood it completely differently. For me it evokes the power of being around certain loved ones to remove you from a depersonalised, depressive, almost hazy state and bring you back into the real world. This is what my partner does for me, which is why I find the song incredibly romantic. Isn't the ambiguity of art a wonderful thing....

[marcusmccallen]

Thank YOU, Anais, for reminding us what it was like BEFORE iPhones. Fortunately, I am still happily living it! Don't worry....I'm due to be ABSORBED any day

[emmmiemcd]

Beautiful song - love seeing the creative process, thank you 🎶 🐦

[tonycave]

I've only just discovered your music and funnily it was on Spotify. My son Gregg Cave is a lead singer in a uk folk rock band called TRADarrr it would be amazing to hear you sing together, ❤ your music

[chelseapoet]

Most importantly her music is amazing, but also: she hasn't aged in 10 years!

[robst]

You're such a bright star -- constant as a northern star. When I first laid eyes upon you, I was filled with such a longing to be with you in the dark. Watching this video, in a way, I am. :-)