What I really like about Nashville based Liza Anne is how quickly she has evolved as a musician. She’s taken her love of folk-inspired music and blended into an indie-pop sound with some of the most honest and poetic lyrics for someone so young. Since 2014, she has recorded three albums and more recently she has released some new songs that I hope will make for the backbone of a new album in the near future. I once read somewhere that Liza said she was well ahead of schedule of where she thought her career would be right now. Importantly for Liza that sort of optimism had everything to do with trying to find those precious moments of taking care of herself physically and mentally. At 26, Elizabeth Anne Odachowski, battles major depressive disorder. Interestingly, Liza has for a long time kept in check her panic and anxiety issues through various mediative practices and thought patterns. Of course I can only imagine it’s not always foolproof. However from what I can gather Liza is always trying her best.
On her first two records the extremely shy Liza Anne only alludes to her own struggle with mental health. But on her third album Fine But Dying (2018), she straight out paints us a picture of her beleaguered world with thoughtful candor taking a brave look at mental illness, especially anxiety on tracks like Paranoia and on the aptly titled Panic Attack.
It is Paranoia that I am interested here today, one of my favourite songs from 2018, that I feel many of us can relate to, especially in the place we find ourselves right now, trying to keep our anxiety in check under the stress of our daily grind and covid-19. That said, how are you copying my friends? Are you trying to stay positive by presenting a happy demeanour to your family and friends but deep down things aren’t so good? As Liza said to NPR a few years back, “It’s pretty inhumane to expect a human being to represent only one side of themselves.” I guess what Liza is saying here is that is ok to be indifferent.
Before you check out the feature track on this addition of ‘songs about overcoming adversity’ I’ve really got to say that the accompanying video for Paranoia is incredibly moving and apt right now. It starts off as this simmering, slow burn that builds into a distorted refrain, a lot like how many of us are feeling right now.
Kudos to Liza Anne for being bold enough to record this track and letting us into her world. Here is a little of what she said about the song and video in late 2017 via the site When The Horn Blows:
“(The video) depicts the duality that can exist within one human being – especially the movement between sane and insane and that fine line that one experiences during panic – internally things are dark and dysfunctional but externally the opposite might be the thing presented. We are walking contradictions – everything and nothing all at once. Making this video felt like being introduced to myself. I felt like I got to go back and heal an old wound and then step out of the frame and go on with my life – healthier and more whole.”
Rearview Mirror 
Wonderful song & video! Great write-up too Robert,