At the storied L.A. venue The Mint, the atmosphere doesn’t just frame the music. There are rooms in L.A. that feel like venues to hear music—it quietly pulls you into it. On this particular night, for yet another heartfelt and triumphant full band show by singer/songwriter Anna Duboc, the club felt like a living collage of old-school charm and modern indie energy. The bar glowed in warm amber beneath a ceiling dotted with vinyl records, while candlelit tables flickered in soft shadow, creating an atmosphere that was both intimate and quietly electric.
Taking the stage, Duboc immediately became the visual and expressive center of the room. Dressed in a soft, off-the-shoulder white sundress accented with delicate ruffled trim and a pale blue ribbon at the bodice, she seemed to carry a kind of understated luminosity. Under shifting red and blue stage lights, the fabric caught and reflected color in subtle ways—warm one moment, cool the next—mirroring the emotional fluidity of the music she was about to deliver.
At 19, the multi-faceted L.A. native is already an established independent artist with a remarkably defined sense of identity, and this performance—featuring a mix of previously released singles, unreleased material and her powerful new single “Lily”—felt less like a showcase and more like a statement of artistic arrival. Backed by a tight, intuitively responsive band—Enzo Iannello and Wil Lodge on guitar, Trevor Zemaitis on drums, Jacob Egan on keys, Chloe Haack on bass, and a trio of dynamic backing vocalists (Gracie Percival, Brooke Murgitroyd and Kevin Johansson)—Duboc moved seamlessly between styles, anchored always by the strength and versatility of her voice.
Opening with “Cherry Pick,” she set the tone with a funky, clapping groove that allowed her to lean into a sultry, rhythmic vocal delivery. The performance was both playful and precise, her precise phrasing locking in effortlessly with the groove as the audience began to settle into her world. That sense of command deepened with “Sinking Feeling,” a 2022 release she introduced as a personal favorite. Beginning as a gentle, guitar-driven ballad, the song gradually expanded into a fuller, more dynamic arrangement, showcasing her ability to move from ethereal restraint into charged intensity without losing control or clarity.
One of the evening’s more unexpected turns came with Duboc reimagining of Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away,” included, as she noted, to bring a sense of fun to the set. But rather than presenting the song a simple cover, Duboc transformed it into something more textured and groove-driven, layering her soulful tone over a hypnotic keyboard motif and driving rhythm that gave the familiar song a fresh, almost cinematic feel.