female vocalists

Based in Brooklyn, NY, Sleigh Bells is the musical collaboration of Derek E. Miller (songwriter, guitarist, producer) and Alexis Krauss (vocalist, lyricist). The two met and formed in 2008, when Miller was waiting tables on Alexis and her mother at a neighborhood Brazilian restaurant. When Miller mentioned that he was looking for a female vocalist for a new musical project, Krauss’s mother immediately volunteered her daughter.

Kath Bloom was born and raised in New Haven, CT, where she learned to play guitar among the headstones of her local cemetery. She met avant-garde guitarist Loren Mazzacane Connors in 1976 and together they recorded six limited edition albums of fragile folk and blues melodies between 1981 and 1984.

After her collaborations with Connors, Kath entered a period of child-rearing and family life, returning to recording in the early 90s. Director Richard Linklater discovered Bloom's music and featured her song Come Here in a pivotal scene in his 1995 film Before Sunrise.

Singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright is the daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, and the sister of Rufus Wainwright. She has frequently appeared on recordings by her family members, and has released several independent EPs. Her full length self-titled debut was released in 2005 by Drowned in Sound, followed in 2008 by I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too.

For her sixth release, Australian singer Janet Seidel continues to mine gems from the huge lode of popular music, this time focusing on tunes with a Gallic bent. Several of the tunes on the play list have a French origin, such as "A Man and a Woman" from the 1966 classic French film of the same name and "I Will Wait for You" from the soundtrack to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Virtually all of these, including the American pop tunes, are sung in French (like a native) and English. For those who need translating help, the lyrics are printed in both languages in the liner notes.