Holywell is the Oxford Student’s weekly music column, published every Sunday for your reading pleasure, covering music across genres, eras, and scenes. This week, Esther Bird reviews ‘Botanical Garden’ by Anna Erhard, and her personal connection to the album as well as the delightful artist.
“Tape yourself to this white page. Say it’s about time that you leave your trace”.
I first heard Anna Erhard playing live on Radio 6Music at the exact moment I was driving past the Salford studio in which she was performing. Since then, her music has been following me round like a friendly shadow, providing something of a soundtrack to my student experience. When I went to see Erhard live for the first time two years ago, the Swiss singer-songwriter dedicated this line, from her 2021 album Short Cut, to freshers arriving in Manchester for their first week of university. While I wasn’t a fresher myself at the time, this dedication was still front of mind a year later. Heading to Oxford for my own freshers week, I stopped for a night in Coventry to watch her perform again. The relatively niche nature of Erhard’s music ensured a varied crowd, a mix of locals who’d stumbled across posters for the gig and devoted fans like myself eager to sing along with every lyric. This mixed audience embodies the togetherness that radiates from her music, which is both universal and unifying in its goofiness. On stage, she’s one of the most personable artists I’ve seen, spontaneously striking up conversations with the crowd which she happily follows up afterwards when signing t-shirts and records at the merch stand.
That second gig saw her playing what was, at the time, her new album Botanical Garden. Released in September 2024, it’s an immediate mood-booster which anyone experiencing the nerves of moving to a new city for the first time needs to blast through their headphones. Since seeing her perform the tracks nearly two years ago, I’ve become increasingly familiar with the album, practicing the songs religiously on my guitar – a birthday gift which matches the model of Erhard’s own. It’s this bright red electric that has settled my unwavering fandom once and for all. It not only reminds me of her joyful music every time I strum a few chords, but also of the generous woman herself, who, fully invested in my surprise present, kindly responded to my dad’s messages asking after the make and model (a Jolana Star).
I struggle to think of any other album so buoyant, radiating pure glee.
Flowing seamlessly from a playful take-down of the Blue Men Group in ‘BMG Academy’ to a description of a particularly ‘Hot Family’ she spots walking down the street, Botanical Garden demonstrates Erhard at her peak. Never shy of trying something new, Erhard’s experimental approach to sound seeps through in every track, reaping its rewards in songs like ‘Spa’, where the unique electronic introduction offers an almost bubbling backing track that perfectly matches the narrative setting of the lyrics. The titular track ‘Botanical Garden’ offers a brilliantly observed description of a visit to some gardens which she rates “two out of five stars”. It’s so beguiling, and Erhard is so winning in her low-key dissatisfaction, that it’s weirdly disappointing to visit Oxford’s own beautiful botanics (which I would highly recommend to any student seeking a break from the pressure of essay deadlines). I would highly recommend the song, too, and unlike her garden, I would eagerly rate it five out of five stars.
Perhaps my favourite thing about Erhard’s music is the joy of creation that emanates from her tracks – I struggle to think of any other album so buoyant, radiating pure glee. This comes across not only in the music, but in the accompanying videos too, where we can find her wandering around a miniature world, or posing atop a deckchair underneath a motorway.
The pleasure of collaboration, too, exudes from her work, as anyone who’s seen the artist live will attest to, having witnessed Erhard laughing on stage with friends and supporting artists such as Robert Kretzschmar. Kretzschmar himself was a close contender for this feature in Holywell, with his 2025 album Make a Wish offering a peaceful and subtle rumination on everything from friendship to pigeons.
Though she may be a familiar name for regular summer festival-goers or ardent listeners of Radio 6Music, where the opening track of the album, ‘170’, was given the extensive air time it deserves, it amazes me that Erhard is not more well known. Getting a ticket for her regular UK tour dates is still surprisingly easy and, all credit to the artist, phenomenally cheap. She deserves all of the accolades that the music industry can throw at her, as she beckons us into the bizarre and playful world that her music evokes. Erhard invites us to smile when listening to her tracks, just as we know that she did when she created them. In turn, she creates a joyful community through albums like Botanical Garden characterised by their experimental sound, witty lyrics, and most of all, through their sense of pure delight.
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