Picture This

Collection Contents

#		Title	Length
1		Nothing Left of Me	3:47	Play
2		Still Can't See the Sun	4:01	Play
3		State	3:52	Play
4		I Don't Deserve You	4:03	Play
5		Lying	3:09	Play
6		Dying Days	3:25	Play
7		Away	3:54	Play
8		Love Fields	3:30	Play
9		If I Could	4:29	Play
10		Free	5:13	Play

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Bitmunk Marketplace Service	USD $0.98
CD Baby Artist Royalty	USD $5.97
CD Baby 9% Digital Distribution Cost	USD $0.54
Bitmunk Download Service	USD $0.52
Bitmunk MicroPayment Service	USD $0.01
Total	USD $7.99

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Description

Joanna de Seyne was born and raised in New York surrounded by music. Her father is an orchestra conductor and her mother is a former opera singer. She studied cello and piano for many years before she determined that she did not have the discipline to pursue a career as a classical musician. In a reaction against her musical roots, she spent a few years exploring other artistic avenues before returning to music on her own terms.

Joanna moved to Europe and began writing songs in London, where she made London's Notting Hill Gate scene her home for most of the nineties. A hotbed for musicians and artists, Joanna signed a deal with a publishing company and worked with such writers and producers as Ray St John (Sade's "Smooth Operator"), Eliot Randall(Steely Dan), Andy Richards (Annie Lennox), and Martin Terefe (Leona Naess, Ron Sexsmith).

In late 1997, Joanna was enticed to return to the U.S. because of major label attention. Newly based in LA, she began an intense period of song writing with co-writers such as Kristen Hall ("Let it Rain"), Jud Friedman (Whitney Houston), and George Sarah ("Sonata for Petra"). She was granted an advance by another major which enabled her to put a band together to concentrate on her live performance.

But by that time, her disenchantment with the state of the music industry led her to take matters into her own hands. With the album "Picture This" a stone's throw from completion, she and London based producer Martin Terefe, decided to finish the album themselves.

"We began the project three years ago, in Martin's little bedroom in Ladbroke Grove, London. I sang the vocals with a Shure 58 in my hand, sitting on a pillow on the floor because there wasn't enough room to set up a mike stand."

With the help of her father, Richard Kapp, who has been running his own successful classical label (ESS.a.y Music) for twenty years, Joanna set up Netherworld Records as a vehicle for selling her own music. The album was posted in Tower Records listening stations across the country. Several of the songs from "Picture This" have been licensed for television and film. National distribution helped "Picture This" find an audience from WXPN in Philadelphia to KCRW in Santa Monica, California.

It also helped that Joanna was working part-time at KCRW in a non-music related field: "The DJs and everyone working there offered a tremendous amount of support. I can't tell you how exciting it was when listeners started calling in to find out more about me and my music."

Here's what some of the critics said:

"The heartfelt debut of this soulful songstress traverses the whole spectrum of emotions from anger to elation. Joanna de Seyne delivers her poignant lyrics in truly haunting and intense fashion, leaving the listener waiting for more." Entertainment Magazine.net

""Picture This" is an original album, something rare, but is accessible and intelligent and an emotional listen." bret's rambling records review

"Picture This is a fascinating and impressive debut.. Joanna de Seyne is an unexpected discovery and will undoubtedly gain the audience she deserves." Pop Matters Music

Since the release of "Picture This", Joanna's creative forces have been divided between music and motherhood: She has recently completed work on her second album, tentatively titled "Beautiful Baby", which she produced and co-wrote with lyricist Amy Foster-Gillies, daughter of producer David Foster.

The completion of the album coincided with the birth of her second child. "I can't seem to do two enormous creative projects at the same time, so it was lucky Amy and I finished the writing part of the project last year because we both got pregnant a couple of months later." The forthcoming album is due to be released sometime in 2004.