Annie Oakley, a local band with two OCU students members, released their full-length debut album.
Annie Oakley is a folk/Americana trio composed of Grace Babb, mass communications senior, Sophia Babb, mass communications senior, and Nia Personette. Their debut album Words We Mean was released Oct. 12.
“It’s been a long time coming, and I think it’s a good starting point when it comes to albums,” Grace said.
Annie Oakley began with the Babb sisters writing songs together, Grace said. They then expanded the group to include their two friends, Personette and Gabee Rolla-Danley. After a year and a half, the band became a trio with the departure of Rolla-Danley.
“Things just went different ways,” Grace said. “Annie Oakley was growing in a different direction than she was.”
The oldest song on Words We Mean, named “Sweet Time,” waswritten while Rolla-Danley was still in the band three years ago.
“I think we needed something that was a culmination of our work,” Grace said. “An EP just wouldn’t cut it. We probably have enough songs to do another album.”
Grace said every song on the album is a message to a specific person that at least one member of the band knows.
“It’s so personal for us,” Grace said. “We don’t make anything up. ‘Words We Mean’is one of my songs, and it’s very personal to me. Basically, it’s something I wrote trying to talk to someone I don’t speak to anymore.”
Annie Oakley has many fans on campus, including Zoe Travers, mass communications junior and music reporter for OKSessions, who praised the album.
“I think it’s phenomenal. I think it’s super musically intelligent, and lyrically, I think it’s gorgeous,” Travers said. “I love the themes in the album. Especially the theme of miscommunication, which I think is so funny because they’re both communication majors.”
Travers said she likes the amount of vulnerability the Babb sisters put on the album.
“To have people who you think are super cool, who you think are really on top of their lives, to just kind of say, ‘Hey, we mess up sometimes. Sometimes we hurt each other, and sometimes we hurt ourselves. And we don’t know how to communicate. We don’t know how to do everything,’” Travers said. “My first reaction was like, ‘Oh wow, this is really huge for them to stand up onstage and say that.’”
After the album’s release, Annie Oakley went on a short hiatus. Sophia is currently studying abroad in Germany, and Grace Babb has been working with her other band, Spinster, who are currently finishing their debut EP. Once Sophia returns from Germany, Annie Oakley will resume and Spinster will go on hiatus.
“When Sophia and I get back together, we’re going to be focusing on lyrics and harmony,” Grace said. “Back to the basics.”
Annie Oakley will have an official showcase at the Folk Alliance International Conference in Montreal in February of 2019.
“It might not be the farthest place in the world, but we’re gonna see a lot of things and meet a lot of people. And that’s worth it,” Grace said.
Words We Mean is available on multiple streaming platforms, including Spotify, iTunes and Apple Music.
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