We’ve spilled plenty of ink on Anna Shoemaker in our time, but to her credit, she keeps providing plenty of reason to come back. Currently on tour with Australian polymath Mallrat as she makes her way through North America, we caught Shoemaker for one such engagement in Brooklyn.
Especially in contrast to our last time catching the songwriter in action, this Brooklyn show came with a shift towards more traditional live production, rather than the stripped-back guitar-only quality of that earlier show. This time, assisted by Aaron, co-songwriter and back-up vocalist extraordinaire, more pronounced percussions and an additional vocal layer really allowed the depth that Someone Should Stop Her contains in its studio version to shine through.
How Her Live Version Differs From The Recording
That’s not to say everything was exactly to the record, and often for the better. “Fields,” performed here without a backing melody, gained a far more raw quality, already a hallmark of Shoemaker’s work given her penchant for lucid songwriting. Cutting the opposite way, “Back Again,” long a Music Daily favorite, entered with an emphasis on heavy reverb guitar, soaked in a more somber and hypnotic air as compared to the officially released rendition.
Of course, while celebrating her second full-length effort was the chief focus, Anna Shoemaker opened the vault for some upcoming material, as well. Cuts like “Circles” and “Dying On Your Hill,” apparently uncorked for one of the first times at Elsewhere, delivered far more sweeping and poetic lyricality, borrowing from idioms and adages for songs that spoke to a more zoomed-out perspective than we’ve heard to this point.
All of this serves as further indication of why Anna Shoemaker remains one to watch, with the teasers via this unreleased material hinting at what could be her most fruitful chapter yet. You can catch all of the Anna Shoemaker catalog wherever you stream your music—while you’re at it, check out her recent live studio rendition of “Iced Coffee.”
Elsewhere in our coverage, catch up on one of the most impressive Record Store Day drops of 2025 with Vegyn – Blue Moon Safari.
