A Fine Frenzy

Bio:One Cell in the Sea is the 14-song debut from A Fine Frenzy, the lineup fronted by 22-year-old singer/pianist Alison Sudol. While A Fine Frenzy's songs are ethereal, the musical and lyrical vision is as thoughtful, brainy and delightful as Alison Sudol herself. Born in Seattle and raised in Los Angeles, Sudol is an only child of divorced parents, finding solace in music that ranged from Ella Fitzgerald to Elton John, from Motown to the melodic melancholia of new global British bands like Aqualung, Radiohead and Keane.

Alison Sudol inhabits a vivid imaginary world populated by siren songs and sailors, sightless creatures and fragile fallen eagles, a place where almost lovers and hopeless dreams are bid a melancholy musical farewell. And on One Cell in the Sea, Sudol allows the listener inside that often-fantastical world, revealing her inner life via songs Harp magazine praised as "fraught, haunted and beautiful."

The story of A Fine Frenzy has been shifting and shaping for several years, beginning when Sudol was 18 and penned 'Almost Lover,' which would eventually become the first single from One Cell in the Sea. A strong student, Sudol graduated high school at 16 and formed a band shortly after. At 18, she left the band and turned to the piano for comfort and inspiration. Evenings became her favorite time, airing her deepest thoughts and liveliest imaginings as she played and wrote for hours on end. Though live performing is her passion, Sudol kept A Fine Frenzy under the radar in Los Angeles. "Sure, it's easier getting recognition playing the club scene than it is hanging around in your living room," she acknowledges with a laugh, "but I wanted to keep it quiet and let the music speak for itself." It didn't stay quiet for long, however, and it was in that very living room where Virgin Records CEO Jason Flom came to see Sudol—and partake of her mother's cookies and A Fine Frenzy's equally delicious songs.