A Fine Frenzy Makes Waves With 'Sea'

Posted on Jun 20th 2007 3:00PM by Steve Baltin
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Alison Sudol, the architect and voice of A Fine Frenzy, is a striking redhead whose delicate piano-based songs have earned the 21-year-old songwriter critical praise and an opening slot on Rufus Wainwright's summer tour.

With the release of her debut album, 'One Cell In the Sea,' Sudol-- a literate type who misses the proper days found in Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice,' and considers Audrey Hepburn to be the "epitome of class" -- hopes to be a more than just another songwriter that's easy on the eyes. "I'm just trying to make music and not to be a sex symbol," she tells Spinner. "And I have gotten a lot of response from younger girls. It's a tough business and it's a tough world. If I can offer something that's helpful to them in trying to find their place in the world, that's great."

Lucky for Sudol, it is her music that's garnered attention. While the girl-and-her-piano schtick is welcomed territory, thanks to the likes of Fiona Apple and Tori Amos, Sudol admits that that wasn't the path she originally began. "I actually got scared off of guitar at an early age because I picked one up and tried to tune it, and I broke a string and it popped up in my face," she says. "It scared the bejesus out of me, and I didn't pick up a guitar again until I was in the studio a few months ago. But the piano inspired me. There's something about the strings vibrating through my hand -- through the keys -- that lights me up."

Moreover, Sudol hopes that her inspiration borne from recording 'One Cell In the Sea' will extend to the ears that hear it. "Everyone takes their own journey," she says. "Freedom of emotion and freedom of interpretation is the beauty of this record."