Keren Ann

A singer-songwriter who pinpoints emotional moments in time with a cool, almost detached style, Keren Ann's delicate, subtle songs grow richer and cut deeper with repeated listening. Keren Ann Zeidel spent her early years in her parents' respective countries of origin -- Holland and Israel -- before settling in Paris at the age of 11. She eventually took to 1960s and '70s guitar pop and '50s vocal jazz and fell in with a group of like-minded musical artists such as Benjamin Biolay, his sister Coralie Clement and Vincent Delerm (European cohorts would include Sondre Lerche, Kings of Convenience and Belle & Sebastian.). After playing in various bands, Keren Ann signed with EMI in 2002 and collaborated with the prodigiously talented Biolay on her solo debut, La Biographie de Luka Philipsen. The album's lovely mix of bittersweet folk-pop, swirling '60s orchestral arrangements and discreet modern downtempo elements was an immediate popular and artistic hit in France. Keren Ann and co-songwriter/arranger Biolay were so productive that they followed the debut up with the sparser La Disparition (The Disappearance) the same year (!) and the album was almost as impressive as their debut. As a lark, Keren Ann recorded a set of unaccented English language demos on her own and was surprised to find that her record label wanted them released. Beefed up by Biolay's typically subtle arrangements, the set was recorded as I'm Not Going Anywhere (2004) and earned the singer an American distribution deal and rave reviews on both sides of the pond. Dividing her time between Paris and New York, Keren Ann crafted the home-recorded Nolita (2005), her first bilingual album and her first without Biolay on board. It once again touches on themes of dislocation, solitude and memory, all handled with the calm, collected and slightly mysterious manner that has become her trademark.