Maria Lithell is a singer and songwriter from Stockholm, Sweden. As a child she was put through classical music school which led her to start off her musical course as a classical singer. For twelve years she has worked as a member of the Royal Opera Choir in Stockholm. Her urge to write and sing her own music, however, made her give up her classical career and start working in her own recording studio. Her lyrics are often poetic and philosophical in their character. Although she has a powerful voice it shows no signs of her classical background. Only her arrangements with bassoon, cello and strings apart from bass, guitar and drums gives the listener an idea of her influences which also are the singer-songwriter tradition. Inspiring artists are P J Harvey, Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Stina Nordenstam, Aimee Mann and Bjork.

On this album also Fleshquartet (www.fleshquartet.com) features on two tracks. They play electronic strings and have written music for both ballet, film as well as released several albums.

A