Album Notes

Fiona Landers was born and raised in Southern California and now lives in New York City. She began writing poetry at a very young age and was published at five years old, thanks to the renowned poet Cecilia Wolloch. At the age of seven, Fiona began acting, appearing in various television shows, commercials, and films, she also played the lead in a musical at The Groundlings Theater in Hollywood. A few years later, her father taught her three chords on the guitar and she wrote a song. Her guitar study and songwriting continued, in a very private sense, only playing for herself and sometimes her family until she was eighteen. Then she began working with an acting teacher named Alan Langdon, whom she had met while studying acting at Circle in the Square Theater School, and because of his belief in her as an artist and his encouragement in her creative growth, along with her artistically supportive family, she began to play out.
She played many known and not so known venues all over New York City, such as CBGB’s Gallery, Bowery Poetry Club, Mo’ Pitkins, Pete’s Candy Store, Postcrypt Coffeehouse, Rockwood Music Hall, and The Bitter End. One of her first full sets was at 169 Bar, where she opened for a band called Old Springs Pike. One of the band members, James Cleare, offered to record and produce an EP for her. She took him up on his offer and the two collaborated on The Lake. James, a Berkeley trained musician, offered his vast musical knowledge and vision, his artistic and technical services, not only engineering and producing the record, but also giving standout performances as a featured musician and vocalist. Fiona has been compared both lyrically and musically to Elliott Smith, Paul Simon and Stephin Merritt and vocally to Billie Holiday, Joni Mitchell and Leslie Feist. The Lake, an eclectic sampler of folk/pop songs, with a hint of jazz, is a wonderful introduction to a powerful new artist.