Sarianna

Trolling through the back waters of myspace.com, I recently discovered Sarianna Sabbarese, a sultry and melancholy singer based in Boston.

Daughter of a founding member of jazz vocal group The Manhattan Transfer (who have been around for ages), Sarianna can apparently play any instrument, but she knows enough to keep her arrangements simple. She sounds a bit like Aimee Mann with a head cold, but her songs are uniquely lovely, catchy and mature.

Check out her myspace page for music samples, especially "Among Friends" which invokes the love songs of The Magnetic Fields and early 60s pop.

She’s also in a band called My Dearest Screwtape with Sean Spada and together they do a great cover of "Wicked Little Town" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

I'll let her describe herself:

"I'm in my early twenties, but I don't feel a day over sixteen. I started playing piano when I was three years old and started recording songs when I was twelve. I am a libertarian. I attended college when I was in high school. I have limited respect for academic success. I have never tweezed my eyebrows. I have the sex drive of a Yohimbine-fueled male rabbit in its prime. I believe in energetic reincarnation. I adore graphic novels and cheesy zombie/gore/stop-motion/troma/outer space movies. I know first-hand that blondes suffer actual, unjust persecution."

Sounds like a neat girl. Write her a note and she'll sell you a CD.