It's a good thing ANOHNI and I decided to leave the cameras turned off for the interview included in episode 118 of the LSQ podcast, because there were moments when she was talking --about her creative process, about using her voice and her music as a survival strategy, about what it felt like to grow up as a trans femme amidst the violence of patriarchy -- that I was nearly in tears, so moved by the way she described her experience. And since crying while interviewing is as cringe as "crying in baseball," it was a relief not to be seen in those moments. It was fascinating to hear ANOHNI's story of discovering her musical spirit as a child, motivated by a desire to reveal feminine emotion and power in a way that she felt her mother was not allowed to, and to learn how she developed her creative process from there. ANOHNI talks about drawing inspiration from artists such as Kate Bush, Boy George, Marc Almond, Alison Moyet, Nina Simone, Ray Charles, Diamanda Galas and more, and how she has learned to adapt musical forms to suit her voice (both the literal voice and the symbolic voice). She also shares about her relationship with her mentor, the late Lou Reed, how greatly he encouraged her early in her career, and what it was like to recently perform some of his music live for the first time since he passed. You can keep up with ANOHNI here. This is also the first video episode of the LSQ podcast, with awesome illustrations and animation crafted by Jess Rotter and Andrew Deselm. Thanks to them for the wonderful work!

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