A.A. Williams

A.A. Williams applies the self-mocking label “death gospel” to her output, creating and performing brooding, atmospheric pieces that showcase a plush, velvety vocal delivery alongside assured command of guitar, piano, and cello. Although rooted in classical training, she harbors an appetite for “all things heavy,” weaving post-rock, folk, goth, metal, and classical strands into a singular fabric. That sensibility first surfaced on her self-titled debut EP in 2019 and reached greater breadth on the 2020 full-length Forever Blue. When the COVID-19 pandemic derailed touring, she issued two interim projects in 2021: Songs from Isolation, a collection of covers reframed in her unmistakable manner, and arco, which presented string arrangements of the debut EP’s material. Her second album, As the Moon Rests, followed in 2022 as her most expansive statement to date.

Based in London, England, Williams first sought music as a child after being informed she was too tall for ballet class. Piano lessons began at age six; because her instructor also taught cello, she acquired that instrument as well. Classical repertoire dominated her upbringing, while mainstream pop supplied lighter listening, until mid-adolescence when a Deftones CD ignited a lasting fascination with heavy metal and its subgenres. In 2014 she retrieved an abandoned electric guitar from the street bearing the note “Please take me, needs work.” A friend helped restore it, after which she taught herself to play and soon began composing dark, dreamlike songs shaped by the conviction that weight need not equal volume.

Demos submitted to Holy Roar Records prompted an offer to release the recordings unchanged, yet Williams elected to re-record most of the material, resulting in the self-titled debut EP’s appearance in early 2019. Her first live performance occurred that April at the 2019 Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands during a Holy Roar showcase. Subsequent engagements found her supporting Russian Circles, Explosions in the Sky, Amenra, and the Sisters of Mercy, as well as performing at the 2019 ArcTanGent Festival in Bristol, England. The Japanese experimental group Mono also enlisted her for the single “Exit in Darkness” b/w “Winter Light.”

Bella Union Records signed Williams for her debut album, and Forever Blue emerged in July 2020 featuring guest contributions from Johannes Persson and Fredrik Kihlberg of Cult of Luna plus Tom Fleming of Wild Beasts. With live dates suspended by the pandemic, she recorded solo interpretations of personally significant cover songs and shared them online; Bella Union collected nine performances as Songs from Isolation in March 2021. October 2021 brought the four-song EP arco, offering fresh string-ensemble renderings of tracks from the debut release.

As live music resumed, the arranging techniques explored on arco informed her next full-length. Working with producer and bassist Thomas Williams in a professional studio—unlike the home sessions used for Forever Blue—As the Moon Rests, released by Bella Union in October 2022, incorporated strings alongside vocals, guitar, and keyboards to produce a denser, more cinematic sound. The album preceded Williams’s first extensive tour of the United Kingdom and Europe.