Ana Roxanne

Los Angeles-based Southeast Asian artist Ana Roxanne crafts meditative ambient works whose layered vocals draw from both sacred choral traditions and the phrasing of R&B divas active in the 1980s and 1990s. Her recordings, among them the 2020 album Because of a Flower, examine notions of beauty, empowerment, and gender identity.

Born in Oakland, California, to Filipino immigrant parents and raised within a devout Catholic household, she sang in school and church choirs while also harmonizing with recordings by Whitney Houston and Anita Baker. After a short period in a jazz and classical vocal program in the Midwest, a visit to India introduced her to classical Hindustani music and vocal techniques. That encounter prompted her to complete her studies at Mills College in Oakland, where she began creating pieces on analog synthesizers. In 2015 she privately assembled a six-song EP titled ~~~; shortly afterward she relocated to Los Angeles. Matthewdavid encountered the recording and issued it on Leaving Records in March 2019, several months after Roxanne announced that she is intersex. Her debut full-length for Kranky, Because of a Flower, appeared in November 2020.