Tanya Donelly

Since leaving her half-sister Kristin Hersh's band Throwing Muses, singer/guitarist Tanya Donelly has gradually removed herself from the world of sylvan nymphs and the ethereal 4AD ethos. First, she made a pitstop in the husky voiced, post-Pixies' apocalyptic dawn of Kim Deal's Breeders. It wasn't long before Donelly debuted the simple, catchy, guitar-driven Indie pop of Belly on the cult fave CD Star. Whereas the Throwing Muses sometimes sacrificed immediate accessibility for a subtler, more patient craft, Donelly blazed a more direct path. At the fore was her breathy alto and love for syrupy-sweet, guilty pop pleasures, as evidenced by her first charttopper, the semi-spiritual "Feed the Tree." The gloriously polished King CD found Donelly ditching the haze altogether, nestling her pop confections in a rock band setting. All that's left of the spunky sprite on her 1997 solo CD Lovesongs for Underdogs is that determined alto -- even the CD cover is a blur of J. Crew sensuality.