With just three singles to their name, Brooklyn’s Anyhow are quickly emerging as an artist to watch in 2026 – an indie rock band turning friendship and uncertainty into warm, melodic, guitar-driven songs that linger in the in-between. In their first-ever interview, the duo of Nick Cianci and Dan Harris sat down with Atwood Magazine to discuss their origins, creative trust, and building something meant to last.

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Stream: “My Calvins” – Anyhow

Anyhow is the word you land on when certainty runs out – when things don’t resolve neatly, when love lingers, when you decide to keep going without guarantees.

It’s a word that holds contradiction gently, and it turns out to be the perfect name for a band whose songs live in that same intimate, in-between space.

Formed in Brooklyn by Nick Cianci and Dan Harris, Anyhow grew out of chance encounters, mutual admiration, and a long stretch of unrealized possibility. The two musicians – longtime members of indie bands Del Water Gap and Shallow Alcove, respectively – had crossed paths for years at shows around the city, circling the same creative orbit without quite colliding. When they finally sat down together with a couple of guitars, the connection was immediate – not because they shared a plan, but because they shared a feeling.

That sense of recognition is something Cianci felt immediately. “I knew right away that he had something special,” he recalls. “I’ve always had a deep appreciation for anyone who can make a moment feel magical with just their voice and an acoustic guitar. Dan just has that natural thing, music just pours out of him.”

What began as casual time spent playing together quickly revealed itself as something rarer – not just compatibility, but shared instinct. “Since we both play in other bands, we also write way more songs than we ever get to record or release,” Harris explains. “We started playing music together just for fun, and quickly realized we shared the same vision: We both come from guitar-playing backgrounds and wanted to make music with our friends.”

He continues, “There’s something very adolescent, almost childlike about the roots of this band. It really started because we had so many songs and ideas sitting around with nowhere to go, and we wanted a project that felt free to put them out.”

Anyhow became that space – unburdened by expectation, open to instinct, and guided by the simple joy of making music together.

Both Cianci and Harris came from guitar-driven worlds, bonded over artists like Elliott Smith and Father John Misty, and found themselves writing far more songs than their other projects could hold. In that sense, Anyhow was born out of necessity – a home where those songs could finally breathe.

What emerged is a sound that feels instantly grounding – warm, melodic indie rock anchored by glowing guitar lines, dreamy vocal harmonies, and lyrics that speak plainly but cut deep. There’s an ease to it, a naturalness that comes from music made without pressure to perform or impress. These songs feel built from the inside out, shaped by instinct, trust, and the simple joy of playing together in a room.

That trust is foundational to how Anyhow operate. “Every song is different, but at the core, everything is meant to feel authentic and made ‘in the cave,’ so to speak,” Harris says. “We want to make a great record from top to bottom – not just a collection of singles.” The goal isn’t perfection, but cohesion – songs shaped slowly, collectively, and with intention.

Anyhow’s collaborative spirit extends fully to producer and drummer Noah Pope, whose presence helps give the music its lived-in warmth and quiet momentum. Together, they’re less interested in defining a lane than in following whatever idea feels honest in the moment – letting each song find its own shape while trusting that their voices, chemistry, and shared sensibility will hold it all together.

At the center of it all is friendship. “This is some of the most fun I’ve ever had collaborating,” Harris reflects. “It feels like the childhood dream of playing in a rock band with your friends.” That closeness carries through the music – not as sentimentality, but as confidence, born from knowing the people beside you are listening just as closely as you are.

With just three releases to date, Anyhow already sound like a band at ease with uncertainty – comfortable sitting in the unresolved, the tender, the not-yet-answered.

Their music doesn’t rush toward conclusions. It lingers, listens, and moves forward anyhow.

Anyhow first introduced themselves in late October with the double single “Harder Than Before” and “Can’t Move” – two songs that arrive already fully formed, not as sketches or scene-setting gestures, but as clear, definitive statements of intent. Together, they outline the emotional and sonic parameters of the band: Warmth without softness, melody without gloss, and an unwavering commitment to honesty, even when that honesty is uncomfortable.

“Harder Than Before” moves with a gentle insistence, built around glowing guitar lines and layered harmonies that feel intimate rather than ornamental. It’s a song about endurance – not the triumphant kind, but the quiet, accumulated weight of holding things together longer than you should. “It’s not the years that kill you, it’s just a couple days,” Harris sings, capturing the way burnout often sneaks in sideways, disguised as resilience. The refrain lands with bruising clarity: “‘Cause you’ve taken so much more, but it’s harder than before.”

Harris describes the song as something that began almost accidentally, written as a way to process a difficult stretch in his own life while watching friends struggle around him. “When I’m hurting, I tend to downplay it by saying, ‘It’s been worse before,’ and just pushing through,” he explains. What gives the song its emotional gravity is that tension – the instinct to minimize pain colliding with the reality that eventually, you hit a limit. Rather than offering solutions, “Harder Than Before” creates space: A quiet, compassionate reminder to lean on the people around you before you break.

If “Harder Than Before” sits with that weight, “Can’t Move” thrashes against it. The track leans more overtly into Anyhow’s pop-rock instincts, driven by churning guitars and a restless rhythmic structure that mirrors the song’s emotional paralysis. “Sometimes I can’t move when I think of you,” Harris repeats, the line circling in place as the track builds and collapses around it.

For Cianci, that feeling of stasis was central to both the writing and the production. “That song is about holding the weight of a deeply meaningful relationship and being stifled, not just by the intensity of your feelings, but how you frame it in your head,” he says. The band leaned into that discomfort, allowing the drums to drop out and re-enter at unexpected moments, creating a sense of hesitancy that never quite resolves. It’s not explosive for the sake of catharsis; it’s tense, unresolved, and deeply human, capturing the moment where wanting something badly enough becomes its own kind of trap.

Taken together, the two songs feel intentionally paired – “contrasting but complementary,” as Harris puts it – a way of introducing not just the range of Anyhow’s sound, but the emotional push-and-pull that defines this new band. Where one song asks for care, the other wrestles with indecision. Both are rooted in the same instinct: To tell the truth as clearly as possible, even when that truth doesn’t offer closure.

That sense of expansion comes into sharper focus on “My Calvins,” the band’s most recent release and Cianci’s first turn as lead vocalist for Anyhow. Released independently on December 18^th, the track shifts the band’s center of gravity without breaking stride – breezier on the surface, but no less emotionally exacting beneath it.

“My Calvins” traces the aftermath of a relationship, not in grand gestures, but in the quiet reckoning that follows: The emotional housekeeping required to move forward, and the lingering question of who you were allowed to be inside someone else’s gaze. “Drunk on your bed, I’m your model / I’m caught in your legs, my Calvins in frame,” Cianci sings, leaning into the song’s central metaphor of exposure and vulnerability. The Calvin Klein imagery becomes a stand-in for that most fragile state – fully seen, fully stripped, and still unsure if it was enough.

“That seemingly immortal Calvin Klein campaign is about embracing who you are in your most vulnerable state,” Cianci explains. “If you don’t feel fully seen even after emotionally stripping yourself, it can leave you feeling a bit lost.” Musically, the band met that vulnerability with warmth: Lush harmonies blooming in the chorus, guitars softened and spacious, and a playful key change at the end that nods to ‘70s heartland rock without tipping into nostalgia.

What’s most striking about “My Calvins” is how naturally it fits alongside the earlier releases. Though the voice at the center has shifted, the emotional throughline hasn’t. The song feels like another facet of the same conversation – another example of Anyhow following feeling over formula, trusting that their chemistry and shared sensibility will hold everything together.

Across all three tracks, Anyhow sound remarkably assured for a band still in its earliest days, not because they have answers, but because they’re willing to sit with the questions.

Their songs don’t rush toward resolution. They linger, listen, and allow uncertainty to exist without apology. It’s that patience – that generosity – that makes Anyhow feel less like a new project and more like a band already in motion, moving forward anyhow.

As naturally as Anyhow arrived, it’s clear they’re already thinking beyond first impressions. What began as an outlet – a place to put songs that didn’t have a home elsewhere – has grown into something far more sustaining. “It definitely started as just two friends who liked hanging out and wanted a place to put songs that weren’t being recorded or shared,” Harris says. “But once we started making the first few songs together, we quickly realized how fulfilling it was.” The scope has shifted, but the foundation hasn’t. At its core, Anyhow remains about trust – trusting each other, trusting the process, and trusting the music to lead them where it needs to go.

A debut album is on the horizon, with plans to release it in the spring, and the band is approaching it with the same patience and care that defines their earliest work. “Every song is different, but at the core, everything is meant to feel authentic and made ‘in the cave,’ so to speak,” Harris explains. “We want to make a great record from top to bottom – not just a collection of singles.” It’s a philosophy rooted in cohesion rather than momentum – an insistence that the album feel like a shared space, not a highlight reel.

For Cianci, that sense of continuity is what makes the project so compelling. “I hope that listeners hear this project as a singular band rather than two songwriters guesting on each other’s tunes,” he says. “It really is a collaborative effort through and through, working towards one voice.” That unity – built slowly, deliberately – is already audible in the music, and it’s only set to deepen as the band continues to follow their instincts together.

There’s also a quiet excitement in the way they talk about what comes next, not as a finish line, but as an opening. “I want to keep making music with those guys for as long as they’ll have me,” Cianci admits. “A lot of our tracking is done live, and our favorite thing is to play together in a room.” Touring, recording, writing another record – none of it feels like obligation. It feels like continuation.

Asked what makes Anyhow special to him personally, Harris returns to that same sense of wonder. “The early days of a band are always the most exciting because you don’t fully know what your sound is yet,” he says. “It feels like the childhood dream of playing in a rock band with your friends.” That dream – unpolished, open-ended, and deeply felt – is the thread running through everything Anyhow do.

If these first songs are any indication, the future for Anyhow isn’t about narrowing their focus, but expanding it –

– allowing each idea to exist on its own terms while remaining tethered to the relationships that made the band possible in the first place. Their music doesn’t demand certainty. It makes room for feeling, for connection, for staying present in the unresolved. And whatever comes next, it’s clear they’ll keep moving forward together – honestly, instinctively, and anyhow.

With a debut album on the way and a sound that already feels intimate, intentional, and emotionally grounded, Anyhow aren’t just introducing themselves; they’re quietly laying a strong foundation. If these early releases are any indication, they’re a band built for longevity, guided by instinct rather than urgency. It’s why Anyhow are an undeniable 2026 Artist to Watch – a band worth following closely as their story continues to unfold. Read our conversation with Nick Cianci and Dan Harris below, and stay tuned for more to come from Anyhow in the new year!

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:: stream/purchase My Calvins here ::

:: connect with Anyhow here ::

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A CONVERSATION WITH ANYHOW

Atwood Magazine: Nick and Dan, for those who are just discovering you and Anyhow today through this writeup, what do you want them to know about you and your new band?

Dan Harris: Anyhow is, at its core, just about having fun with music. It’s about friends hanging out and pushing the boundaries of what guitar music is, or what songwriting can mean. It’s meant to be uplifting for us, because at the end of the day, we’re all just friends making music. But we’re also much more than just a “rock band.” We want to see how far we can push the sound – how far we can push beyond just “guitar” music, or what a rock band can be. We can be a vocal band, we can be a lot of things. We’re not interested in staying in one lane.

Nick Cianci: What he said.

You’re both part of other bands like Del Water Gap and Shallow Alcove; what brought you two together and inspired you to “step out onto the stage” as Anyhow?

Nick: I had met Dan in passing at various shows in Brooklyn over the years, but we didn’t really hang out one on one until about a year and a half ago. When we finally got together with a couple guitars, I knew right away that he had something special. I’ve always had a deep appreciation for anyone who can make a moment feel magical with just their voice and an acoustic guitar. Dan just has that natural thing, music just pours out of him. We have yet to hit the stage together, but I can’t wait to play a show in the new year!

Dan: Personally, I’d been a fan of Nick for years before we were actually friends. When we finally hung out, we immediately connected over a lot of the same music – artists like Elliott Smith and Father John Misty. Since we both play in other bands, we also write way more songs than we ever get to record or release. We started playing music together just for fun, and quickly realized we shared the same vision: We both come from guitar-playing backgrounds and wanted to make music with our friends. There’s something very adolescent, almost childlike about the roots of this band. It really started because we had so many songs and ideas sitting around with nowhere to go, and we wanted a project that felt free to put them out.

What inspired the name “Anyhow,” anyhow?

Dan: Great question. It actually started as a placeholder, but it comes from an Elliott Smith lyric from “Waltz #2.” One of my favorite lines is, “I’m never gonna know you now, but I’m gonna love you anyhow.” The word just stuck with us.

You guys are both seasoned songwriters, with plenty of experience in front of the mic and behind-the-scenes. What has the songwriting process looked like for this band, so far?

Dan: It changes with every song. Sometimes Nick will write almost an entire song before bringing it to me, and I’ll tweak a few things, and sometimes it happens the other way around. There are also songs that we’ve started completely from scratch together. We’ve also brought our friend/producer, Noah Pope, into a handful of songs for songwriting guidance – whether that’s lyrics, melody changes, arrangements, or riff ideas. Every song is different, but at the core, everything is meant to feel authentic and made “in the cave,” so to speak. We want to make a great record from top to bottom – not just a collection of singles.

You debuted with “Harder Than Before” and “Can't Move.” What’s the story behind these two songs, and why did you choose them for your introduction?

Dan: They were two of the first few songs we ever started playing together. We felt like they showed a nice variety of our sound. “Harder Than Before” is a little quieter, while “Can’t Move” leans more into our pop-rock side. They felt contrasting but still complementary – a good way to introduce the range of what we do. And it’s only just the beginning.

“Harder Than Before” is this lush indie rock groove with a hot guitar lick, dreamy harmonies, and achingly intimate lyrics. What is this song about, for you?

Dan: It was honestly kind of a throwaway song at first – something I wrote to process how I was feeling. I had a lot of friends who were really going through it at the time, and I had just come out of a period where I was struggling myself. When I’m hurting, I tend to downplay it by saying, “It’s been worse before,” and just pushing through. I wrote the song as a response to my friends who were struggling, but also as a reminder to myself not to shrug things off. Because eventually you hit a limit. It’s really important to lean on your friends and allow yourself to ask for help.

“Can't Move” is harder-hitting but no less moving, with a charged, churning chorus that hits hard and leaves a lasting mark. Tell me about the paralysis described in the song - how did you go about bringing that feeling to life in your music?

Nick: Yea that song is about holding the weight of a deeply meaningful relationship and being stifled, not just by the intensity of your feelings, but how you frame it in your head. There’s a sense of restlessness in the production of that song, between the screaming guitars and the start/stop nature of it. Dan and Noah had some really cool ideas about where the drums pick up, drop out, and drop back in… They’re on strange beats. It creates a kind of hesitancy, which is the core sentiment of the song.

Tell me about your latest single, “My Calvins” - where did this song come from, and what does it mean to you?

Nick: That song is about processing the end of a relationship and doing all the emotional housekeeping you have to do to move forward. But it’s also about reconciling your identity with how that person sees you. That seemingly immortal Calvin Klein campaign is about embracing who you are in your most vulnerable state. If you don’t feel fully seen even after emotionally stripping yourself, it can leave you feeling a bit lost.

Once again, I'm smitten by the warm harmonies in this song's chorus. Can you share a bit about building this song, and where that refrain came from?

Nick: I brought this song to the guys in a half-formed state with the riff and the melodies. It was originally a more straightforward, hard hitting rock song, but then Dan and Noah took it into a breezier, more lush direction which I think served the song way better. The modulation at the end was sort of a joke at first when I showed them the demo, but they insisted we go for it. They really leaned into the ‘70s “heartland rock” thing here. This song is an example of me bringing something in and trusting Dan and Noah’s instincts. I’m so glad I did because I’m stoked on how it turned out.

What are your goals for Anyhow – is this album a quick collaboration between friends, or is the sky the limit and you’ll go wherever the music takes you?

Dan: It definitely started as just two friends who liked hanging out and wanted a place to put songs that weren’t being recorded or shared. But once we started making the first few songs together, we quickly realized how fulfilling it was. Now, I truly think the sky is the limit. I could see this project going further than either of us imagined at the start. That said, at its core it will always just be friends making songs and trusting each other to do right by one another. I’m really proud of these songs, and I’m really proud to make music with these collaborators and call them my friends. I feel incredibly grateful, and I don’t think we’ll ever lose sight of that.

Nick: There was a moment recently where the three of us were discussing timelines for the project going into next year and Noah and Dan suggested we drop the album in the Spring. I was like “wait, why? I don’t want it to be over,” and they were like “well, we will just make another record…” I want to keep making music with those guys for as long as they’ll have me. It would be so fun to tour these songs too… A lot of our tracking is done live, and our favorite thing is to play together in a room. Would be sweet to open for Taylor Swift.

I know it’s early days, but what is your favorite thing about your own music? What makes Anyhow special for you personally?

Dan: The early days of a band are always the most exciting because you don’t fully know what your sound is yet. I also love that we haven’t married one sound. Our genre honestly changes every day to me – and I hope it always does. This is some of the most fun I’ve ever had collaborating. It feels like the childhood dream of playing in a rock band with your friends. This project has also brought me incredible close to Nick and Noah, two people that I’ve looked up to for years. I feel so lucky to be able to call them close friends now. These sessions have helped me in so many ways.

Nick: I love that we don’t rely on any genre to frame how we write or record. It’s all about seizing any idea that excites us in the moment. Not that this record is a genre-bender by any means, but all the songs sort of live in their own world. We kind of just trust that our voices, playing, and chemistry link it all together into a cohesive project.

Lastly, what do you hope listeners take away from these two tracks, and what have you taken away from creating this music and now putting it out?

Dan: I hope listeners form their own relationship with the music. It’s completely honest to us – it’s all autobiographical in some way, whether the lyrics are literally true or the music just felt true in the moment. I just hope people can create a personal connection with it and with us. I’m truly grateful that anyone is listening at all. My biggest takeaway is how surreal, scary, and rewarding it is to hear songs that were written in my car and my room out on streaming platforms. It’s not lost on me how cool that is. And the fact that I get to do it with some of my favorite people? What a freakin’ dream come true.

Nick: Other than connecting with it in a personal way, I hope that listeners hear this project as a singular band rather than two songwriters guesting on each other’s tunes. It really is a collaborative effort through and through, working towards one voice. My biggest takeaway is how rewarding and fun the collaborative process is and trusting the instincts of Dan and Noah. There were so many times I second guessed something I played or sang, and they would be like “nope, we’re keeping that.” It works in reverse too. It’s so much less stressful than being a lone cowboy with a guitar.

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