Ann Liu Cannon, Live At Paper Dress Vintage

Words by Josh Hart

Photography by Martha Jane @onlywithalma

On a sweltering summer’s evening, I wait to catch Ann Liu Cannon – a shapeshifting singer-songwriter from Wiltshire. Tonight’s gig finds her at a unique point in her artistry, unveiling completely new tracks that form a portrait of the artist as she is currently, and offering a small window into her second album in the making. 

Speaking to Ann in the garden of Paper Dress Vintage – surrounded by the ambient hum of Hackney and Minnie Riperton – she explains how she booked the gig six months ago with the intent of displaying tracks that she had already started writing and recording. 

After jamming through these ideas for hours and hours with multi-instrumentalist and collaborator, Tim Gardner – Ann found that the songs which she intended to play weren’t resonating. Instead, it was the off-shoots and the private sketches, the songs that she hadn’t intended to share, that became the core of tonight’s set list.

“We are really in the middle of the stream”, Ann says, analogising her creativity as an ongoing stream which we will witness this evening. “Tonight will be an experiment, to see what lands and what doesn’t”, making the crowd, in some ways, part of this creative process. “My music is in a completely different place to Clever Rabbits… I was very scared, but I’m now intrigued; at peace with whatever has come out of this”. 

Her debut record Clever Rabbits (JJ Records, 2025) had the makings of a fairytale. Discovered by BRIT Award-winning producer Ethan Johns in Camden’s Spiritual Bar, Ann was whisked away to his studio to record an album. The result was an album of songs that charted her formation as a songwriter. 

During recording, her father tragically passed away. The process of grief was explored on her 2024 EP Chalk (recorded after Clever Rabbits but released before). From the synth-pop of ‘Sinking Foxes’ and the totemic title track to the flooring ‘Papa’s Gone To the Clear Sky’, Chalk captured both the immense pain and the glimpses of joy experienced when moving on after loss. It also hinted at a desire to change form, and combine more electronic elements into her folk-influenced music. 

“Since Clever Rabbits came out, I haven’t stopped writing”, she exclaims. Ann describes this new music to me as “Elliott Smith meets Portishead…with banjos”, influenced by singer-songwriters like Sufjan Stevens (and even listening to Marina Diamandis). While folk is the undeniable through-line, Ann seems to align with songwriters who use elements of the genre to build something entirely their own. "It's off-kilter folk," she explains. "Where they’re telling their own story”, taking from the canon while creating something that speaks directly to them.

This theme is consistent across the repertoire of Man Made Tigers, an independent label founded by Ann and Thomaz Martin in 2025. Since then, they have released debut albums from producer and Dead Pages member Gus White (For Now, Anyway) as well as Martin (Nostalgia For Modern Times). The next – is this body mine?, the debut album from Naomi in Blue – releasing this October, with opening single ‘Naive' offering a glimpse with its pensive cry of blissed-out indie folk.

The label seems to be platforming a scene of alternative singer-songwriters – many of whom were in attendance this evening – that are reinterpreting folk in different shades and colours to tell their own stories. The support acts for this evening, Grace Elizabeth Harvey and Dead Pages, are no different.

Performing an entirely unplugged set in the garden of the venue, Liverpool-based singer-songwriter Grace Elizabeth Harvey’s tender songs of aching yearning left everyone silent – rising above the rush of the Hackney trains (and the loud drone of a nearby air vent).

Her set included ‘An Ode’, a song about falling in love in London summer, and the standout ‘Familiar’, capturing the razor-sharp pain of loving another in poetic fashion. Grace debuted tracks from her upcoming EP Songs of Devotion (out 16th October), supported by PRS funding, and recorded with Gus White, who watched on with visible pride. ‘The Dream of Common Language’ (her new single out now) was inspired after finding a poetry anthology of a similar name (The Dream of A Common Language) in a charity shop. Compiled by poet Adrienne Rich in the 1980s, its themes of language, miscommunication, yearning, and queer love resonated from the pages, and through the decades, into Grace’s music. 

Check out Elizabeth Grace Harvey here

Moving upstairs, I saw Dead Pages, a trad-ish alt folk band from Wiltshire consisting of Josie Goddard, Samuel Austin, and Gus White. With just a handful of tracks online, they are active and respected players – performing at Glastonbury in 2024, as well as founding Late Spring Folk Festival. 

Joined by Tim Gardner on violin, their set consisted of traditional folk songs and original tracks – creating a gigantic sound from just four musicians. Stripping back ‘Breakfast On The Grass’, one of their only singles, it lost none of its intensity, sitting naturally amongst Appalachian murder ballad Willow Garden’, 19th century Irish robber ballad ‘Jolly Old Robber, and other traditionals. Armed with a harmonium and her incredible vocals, Josie performed Palestinian freedom song ‘Ya Taleen’, sung in Arabic with power and poignancy. Closing with ‘Not Moving On From You’, an original played with the nostalgia of a folk revival ballad, and a clear crowd favourite. 

Check out Dead Pages here 

With no introduction, Ann and Tim take to the upstairs stage. Surrounded by banjos, synths, keyboards, drum machines, violin and guitars, it felt like you were as close as possible to their creative process, of hours refining in the studio. 

The new material felt like fully formed impressions; at times, like ideas unfolding for the first time, and others, like they might be decades old. ‘Jade Wise’ was restrained and heart-wrenching writing – with lyrics of being “one foot in the land, one foot in the sea, one foot in the country”, it had the poignancy of true country songs. There were moments of joy, with upbeat ‘Free Climbing’ offering tongue-in-cheek lyrics about growing up and falling in love – resonating immediately with the crowd. ‘I Just Know I’ll Be A Woman Someday’ landed somewhere between Jeff Buckley and Joni Mitchell, singing of determination and gendered fate with exuberance. 

Moving into the final part of the set, ‘Winter’s Song’ signalled a pivot. Driven by Ann’s trad-influenced vocal, supported by droning violin and a few choice notes on keys, the track charted into a sonic abyss. Transitioning into ‘Anthem’, Ann and Tim created a bed of sound, live looping Ann’s vocals alongside whirling violin and reversed mic sounds. It felt dangerous and exciting, with her words, “I have an aching I still don’t understand” resounding against untameable sounds. 

The tension broke on final track ‘Animal’. With Dead Pages’ Gus White joining on kick drum and percussion, Ann tells the packed room, “it’s so special to give these songs an audience” – before launching into an energetic finale with the passion and confidence of an artist that is making some of their best music so far. 

“I’m working with people that are aligned, and supported by a community that feels aligned”, Ann shared earlier in the evening. Having seen her never-before-heard songs being cheered on by friends, family – and the community of musicians who share the same stages, sounds, and philosophies – tonight felt like proof of this alignment.

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Check out Ann Liu Cannon here

Check out Tim Gardner here

Check out Martha Jane’s photography here