Why Lie? I'm writing this myself because my publicists asked me to, and I feel bad pawning off another bio onto one of my friends. I also don't want to bore you with some snooze-fest where I explain that I started playing piano when I was five, nor do I want to romanticize my struggles as a musician or that I was misunderstood in high school. The reality is I spend way too much time at Whole Foods and I always make sure The Real Housewives of New York is being tivo'd. And I was never misunderstood until recently.

First off, I want to be clear that I love my indie/dance/rock-and-rolling band Hello Stranger, but sometimes the cliché of making a solo record becomes too powerful and overwhelming for us front people, so I finally decided cross over into that camp. Not that I haven't branched out on my own enough by contributing to Maynard from Tool's side project "Puscifer" and Avenged Sevenfold's latest self-titled release (maybe those gothicy people like me 'cause I'm pale and have black hair?). Anyway, I don't want to say this record was inspired by a deep depression, but fuck that--like every other asshole out there--it was. I realized the only way to cope was either welbutrin or creating something personal and meaningful. And that's the truth! Four letter words aside, I'm actually really sensitive and sad and nice. So I fancy these songs as simple statements that try to evoke a certain melancholy and feeling of isolation that no matter what never seems to go away. You know what I mean?

After getting back from touring with my band, (opening for the Foo Fighters no less--the most fun I've ever had in my life!) I often find myself restless, and decided to get away and try and not think about music. But of course I started writing. That's when most of these songs were born--in the beautiful reaches of California--Big Sur and the Mojave Desert. After coming back to the city, I employed my high-school sweetheart/life partner Joachim Cooder and my dear genius friend Martin Pradler to fill in the blanks. Joachim's dad, Ry Cooder, is still the only name I can think of to drop here, but he actually asked if he could play slide on "Nature of Things," so I let him. And yeah he probably loves me just 'cause his son does, but after recording he did say "Juliette is a young modern person writing R&B ballads like Dan Penn. Nobody's doing that anymore. And that's 100% true--not 10% true like all that hype bullshit out there" Right on, Ry! And after Ry left, I was like, "Who the fuck is Dan Penn!"

Basically the vision for this record was to combine my classical roots (my father is a classical record producer and I grew up playing classical piano) by adding strings, horns and Brahms-inspired piano voicings, with my love of Tangerine Dream-esque arpeggiators and synthesizers. I wanted to remove myself from the world of disposable music and create some kind of epic, haunting, other-worldly musical landscape. All in all--and I'm being the most sincere I've been so far in this bio that tells you nothing about me--I made what I think is an absolutely beautiful record. It's a little bit Kate Bush, a little bit Bjork with some Chet Baker thrown in, but honestly I hate saying shit like that.

www.myspace.com/juliettecommagere

www.aeronautrecords.com

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