CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE ACTS WE CAUGHT AT SXSW!
AUSTIN, TX- Earlier this year at SXSW, I stumbled into a set at the British Music Embassy that lingered in my subconscious far longer than I realized. It was the kind of performance that sneaks up on you months later, as you scroll through neglected photo folders or shuffle through the backlog of half-remembered festival moments. The artist was Annie-Dog. Fast-forward to a recent gym session when I needed a fresh jolt of sonic electricity, and Annie-Dog’s name resurfaced in my head. I cued up her latest EP 15, and what started as a casual listen turned into a full-on electronic awakening.
Annie-Dog is the project of a young Dublin-based artist who’s apparently crafting one of the most exciting sounds in indie electronic pop right now. With a musical aesthetic that dances between breakbeat chaos, dreamy synth layers, and sharp pop sensibilities, her work is hard to pin down… and that’s precisely what makes it compelling.
15, her second EP released earlier this year, is a wild ride of textures, impulses, and experiments that somehow all coalesce into something cohesive. From the glitchy pulse of opener “What Happened.” to the full-blown garage-inspired bounce of “The Feeling in My Fingertips,” Annie-Dog doesn’t just genre-hop…she genre-collides.
But what really pulled me in was “The Pressures of the Heart”. It’s a standout track with frenetic breakbeats and yearning lyrics that feel like they’re both dancing and spiraling at once. I feel that that track could sit comfortably on a playlist between 2000s jungle revival and post-internet pop. Then there’s “Please Forgive Me, David Gray,” a hyper-sped, tongue-in-cheek reworking of the David Gray single “Forgive Me.” It’s the kind of track that, on paper, shouldn’t work. But in Annie-Dog’s hands, it becomes something self-aware, heartfelt, and oddly cathartic. That ability to walk the line between sincerity and sly humor (in the title) is a big part of what makes her music resonate.
At SXSW, her performance for the British Music Embassy was quietly magnetic. Watching her sing with an unaffected, unbothered tone, you got the sense that she was creating a world for herself first and letting the audience step into it on her terms. It’s a confident creative posture, especially for an artist whose career is still just getting started.
And that’s the thing… Annie-Dog’s backstory is surprisingly brief, which makes the creative polish on 15 all the more impressive. She started self-producing in GarageBand, uploading songs with zero industry fanfare, relying on instinct and a clearly well-trained ear. Her first single, “The Pressures of the Heart”, dropped in early 2024 and was quickly picked up by tastemakers like BBC Radio 6 Music among others, eventually earning a spot on Spotify’s New Music Friday UK playlist. Even Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins took notice, resharing her track on socials… an ironic twist, considering her stage name is a nod to a deep cut from the Pumpkins’ Adore album.
Since then, Annie-Dog has been releasing music through UK indie label Dance to the Radio and is now repped by Wasserman for live bookings. She’s performed at Tilt in Dublin, supported showcases at SXSW in Austin, and appeared at Pitchfork London. What’s remarkable, though, is that she’s done all of this while retaining full creative control. Every track, every EP, every visual… she’s built it from the ground up, often leaning into lo-fi video effects, homemade visuals, and sparse production that trusts the listener to lean in.
Listening through the 15 EP, I was struck not just by the genre play but by the emotional intelligence threaded through each track. There’s a vulnerability in how she delivers her lines. It’s a kind of digital-age melancholy that doesn’t beg for attention, but sits with you. You can sweat through a gym session to it, but you can also lie on your back at 2AM and let it soundtrack your insomnia. That’s quite a quality… and I experienced it.
In an age where every other pop act is curated, filtered, and pre-branded to death, Annie-Dog feels refreshingly self-defined. There’s no sense she’s trying to go viral or please an algorithm. Her music unfolds like private messages sent to the world on her own timing, unbothered by metrics, but still deserving of ears.
So yeah, maybe I was late to the party. Maybe that SXSW performance needed to sit in my brain’s “to-do” pile for a bit before it hit just right. But Annie-Dog isn’t the kind of artist you forget about. She’s the kind you circle back to—and then wonder how you didn’t realize sooner just how good she really is.
Don’t sleep on Annie-Dog. She’s not just someone to watch—she’s already here.
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CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE ACTS WE CAUGHT AT SXSW!
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