From the shadow of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in downtown Durham to a quiet park in neighbouring Cary, the American Tobacco Trail is a paved, two-way rail trail that cuts through thick forests of pine and oak in central North Carolina. Once it reaches its southern terminus in Cary, some sixteen miles south of its starting point, the Tobacco Trail turns to packed gravel for another six-and-a-half miles.
That transition is one of the reasons the Durham-based musician Anjimile chose their bike, a Kona Rove, which is equally capable off the road as it is on it.
“She’s called ‘The Wicked Witch of the South,’” said Anjimile, who spends hours riding from their home in Durham down the Tobacco trail, long past its tarmac-to-gravel transition, before turning back home.
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(Image credit: Anjimile)
Like many bike riders, Anjimile considers their time on the bike as much a restorative practice as it is a physical exertion. It’s on the bike where Anjimile clears their head, which gives them the requisite space to come home, pick up their guitar, and focus on writing their music.
“Riding is obviously not therapy but, man, it has such tangible and immediate therapeutic benefits,” Anjimile said. “And to even access the emotions needed to write whatever is on my mind, I need to be in a relatively clear emotional headspace. And so, regular riding contributes to my songwriting, one hundred per cent. It just clears me out.”
Much of that clarity led to the writing sessions that resulted in You’re Free to Go, their sixth album overall and second for the venerated independent label 4AD, to be released on March 13.
It was during their college years in Boston that Anjimile first discovered their love of bikes. There, through the city’s byzantine streets, the budding singer-songwriter commuted on a $200 black road bike whose brand had been lost to time. It was the first drop-bar bike the Texas native had ever ridden and the first time they’d ever experienced something with such a sense of speed, response and capability.
“Her name was ‘Bullseye’ because she rode like the wind,” Anjimile said. “But I left her in Harvard Square at one point, and it snowed. And that was the end of her life.”
(Image credit: Anjimile)
After college, Anjimile kicked around Boston for a few years before relocating south to Durham, a move spurred by the North Carolina-based management company that signed them after they released their first widely celebrated LP, Giver Taker, in 2020. Though they were unable to tour due to Covid restrictions, the album garnered enough press—including an inclusion on NPR’s list of the 50 best albums of the year—that management companies and major record labels began to show interest.
In 2021, off the back of the recognition of Giver Taker, Anjimile signed to the British record label, 4AD, packed their things, and headed south with their former partner, who worked as a bike mechanic.
Like millions of other people around the world, Anjimile passed much of the seemingly interminable Covid era in the saddle, exploring their new city from the safety of their bike, a stopgap they had gotten their hands on before leaving Boston.
“It was lockdown, and I wanted to exercise, and cycling was my favourite form of exercise,” they said. “So, I went to this cool shop one town over in Carrboro called Back Alley Bikes and got the Wicked Witch.”
And just like the millions of people before them, Anjimile caught the bug and wondered how much more fun it might be if they went all in.
“I thought, ‘What if I got some clipless pedals? What if I got some road shoes? What if I just got some stuff?’ And that’s when I became a freak,” they said with a laugh.
Within no time, Anjimile’s closet burst with cycling gear, and their Kona had a computer and a cadence sensor. And while they typically spend the hours riding up and down the Tobacco Trail alone, Anjimile has dipped their toe in group rides in the past.
“It was awesome, because that was a fast ride for me,” they said. “That was the first time I’d ever ridden in a paceline and that was really fun.”
Once the album comes out, they will hit the road for about a month, playing shows around America with Durham-based multi-instrumentalist Yan Westerlund. And though they still have yet to figure out how to fit regular riding into the rigours of touring, Anjimile knows that the Wicked Witch will be waiting for them in Durham, ready to hit the Tobacco Trail, ready to help them clear their heads, to help them find the space to write music. Or maybe to just put some wind in their hair and a smile on their face.