Emilie Simon

This idiosyncratic French singer/producer has followed her muse for years now, and it hasn't failed her. Crafting albums that take inspiration from nature and the seasons, she has composed music devoted variously to the desert, winter, the sounds of vegetables and much more. In 2004 she set to work on her second album, on which she wanted to explore wintry sounds. That album ultimately became the soundtrack to Luc Jacquet's film March of the Penguins, though the American version of the film had a different soundtrack because distributors were afraid American audiences wouldn't respond well to her avant-garde work. Simon grew up around music: her father was a sound engineer, and she studied jazz and rock before turning to electronic music. Possessed of a girlish voice and an endearingly warped worldview, she has emerged as an innovator. Her fourth album, The Flower Book, collected the best of her first three albums for international audiences.