''This Is an Exercise'' is an album by experimental

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

artist

Anna Oxygen Anna Jordan Huff is an American multi-media artist, composer, producer and actress best known by her stage name Anna Oxygen. After starting her music career as a member of the Space Ballerinas, a synthpop group then based in Olympia, she reco ...

, released in 2006 on Kill Rock Stars. Allmusic described the album as "just as fascinating as it is chilly and alienating. In her songs, Oxygen explores some of the same issues of authenticity, creation, and consumption that

Tracy + the Plastics Tracy + the Plastics is an American electropop and video project group from Olympia, Washington, United States. The members include Nikki Romanos on keyboard, Cola on drums, and Tracy as the lead vocals. Although the name implied the group was ma ...

do, but with a sci-fi/fantasy bent."

Production and release

Oxygen composed the album herself, also handling piano, primary vocals, and sequencing. It also featured Melissa Collins on cello, Andy Gertz on accordion, and guest vocalists Kitty Jenson, Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn & Ginger Takahashi. Portland artist Jona Bechtolt helped Oxygen with the cover art. It was released on February 21, 2006 on Kill Rock Stars.

Critical reception

The album met with a mixed reception, with a number of reviewers writing about the album with acclaim. In a positive review for the '' Phoenix New Times'', Ray Cummings called the album "dancey." About Oxygen's vocals, Cummings wrote that "Huff's voice recalls Linda Perry's... at its lightest, it's diva-in-training delightful. In either mode, her pipes are a perfect contrast to the rhythmically ebullient programmed synths and beats supporting them - backdrops coursing, playful, robotic, and pop basic." In a positive review for Allmusic, Heather Phares called the album "a darker, more dramatic, and more polished affair than ''

All Your Faded Things ''All Your Faded Things'' is an album released by Anna Oxygen on July 22, 2003 under the Cold Crush Records label. It was produced by Justin Trosper. Critical reception Wrote MacKenzie Wilson of Allmusic in a review for the album, Oxygen is "en ...

''," also describing it as "just as fascinating as it is chilly and alienating. In her songs, Oxygen explores some of the same issues of authenticity, creation, and consumption that

do, but with a sci-fi/fantasy bent." Phares gave the album 3.5/5 stars, also stating that "on ''This Is an Exercise'', Anna Oxygen excels at creating a unique, sometimes disturbing sonic world with an almost-palpable sense of atmosphere."

Track listing

#"Fairy Quest" – 2:59 #"Fake Pajamas" – 2:41 #"Dream. Dream. Dreams." – 2:26 #"March of Human" – 1:40 #"Hypertension" – 3:25 #"R.R.N." – 2:23 #"Mechanical Fish" – 2:51 #"Walk" – 2:53 #"Psychic Rainbow" – 2:13 #"Willow Song" – 4:08 #"This Is..." – 2:27 #"Hold You" – 2:17

Personnel

- Composer, Cover Art, Layout Design, Piano, Primary Artist, Sequencing *Melissa Collins - Cello *Andy Gertz - Accordion *Kitty Jenson - Vocals * Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn & Ginger Takahashi - vocals * Jona Bechtolt - Cover Art, Layout Design

References

External links

''This Is an Exercise''
at Discogs
''This Is an Exercise''
at Bandcamp {{Authority control 2006 albums Anna Oxygen albums