A play on words paying homage to her training as a music educator, In All Degrees honors Robin’s classroom origins as a student and teacher. After a decade as a voice instructor, college professor, composer, and director, Robin’s move into the singer-songwriter realm called for a thorough embrace of the creative process and a return to her uninhibited youth spent penning stories, plays, and songs. Anchored by clean vocals, lyric imagery, and a dynamic exploration of style, In All Degrees reflects Anderson’s winding artistic path. A sense of hope - for renewal, change, and rebirth - resounds throughout the album. The optimistic “That Sun” kicks off the album by inviting the listener to “throw the window wide open.” Written on Anderson’s front porch during a bout of mid-February 70-degree weather, the song hails presence - being present, bringing presence, and honoring the presence of others. “She’s in and she’s here to stay” refers to spring, the lifeforce of the sun, creative energy and drive. The concept for the album began here, with this song. “Mister Moon” is a sweet, nostalgic tapestry of memories representing relationships with men and father figures. “I can only wish and hope that every girl grows up with the kind of dad I had.” Here the lyrics convey a comforting sense of permanence, of constance, and suggests how that presence has played out in her relationships later in life. 2/6 Life Crisis, an abrupt shift of mood and style, brings the listener into a realm of existential questioning, of frustration with the mundane and the everyday. Robin asks two questions - what do we deserve, and what are we worth? The dissonance of these colliding questions manifests as jazz undertones, suggesting that the answers are perhaps too complex and distant for any potential resolution. “You Are” serves as a soulful, self-love memo, encouraging the banishment of wretched mirrors that twist and mar the image of the self. “End of Sunset Road,” with its motown-inspired bass line and sugary guitar, is a hopeful anthem exploring the physical and emotional process of moving and re-transplanting roots, urging the listener to find hope in new homes. Influenced by the deaths of family members and the passing of friends, “In Peace” encompasses the joy of the tribute; an intense instrumental interlude breathes into the album a turning point, a passage into deeper and darker territory. “To the Water” began as a much different song, originally titled “Three Became Two” and born out Robin’s experience with miscarriage, the song tackles the anger, grief, and frustration of loss. The piece leads to the dustiest corner of the project, The Piano, which references the antique giant upright upon which Robin learned to play as a child, housed for years in a garage, then a basement. Here, Anderson’s classical influence is clear; a cello thoughtfully weaves its countermelody through the story before presenting the last number. “This is perhaps my most important song. Our most haunted instruments need played. We all need to rediscover a part of ourselves that we’ve shelved. We all need to be heard, to sound, and to sing.”