Juana Molina

For a woman who spent seven years entertaining Argentina -- and much of Latin America -- with a comedy show, Juana Molina's musical persona flies directly in the face of her television persona. Though she found her fame as a comedian, Molina's first passion was music. She began playing guitar at age five and was witness to her father's -- tango player Horacio Molina -- collaborations with some of the greatest Brazilian musicians of the day, and her songwriting sense is almost miraculously subtle as a result. Forced to leave Argentina with her family during the worst years of the dictatorship, Molina's six-year stint in Paris may have also influenced her sound and eclectic approach to composition. Still, listening to her third album, 2004's Tres Cosas, it's hard not to feel that we're simply being given a window into the workings of an unusual mind. Her whispery voice meshes gently with a musical landscape that's deftly sketched with panoply of instruments and electronic effects.