One of my favorite albums of 2013 was the self-titled full-length from Pillowfight, the sexy grooving project of vocalist/composer/arranger/multi-instrumentalist/producer Emily Wells and Dan the Automator. The solo work of classically trained Wells is more experimental and finds her mixing traditional techniques and instrumentation (cello, viola, and violin, both bowed and plucked, and acoustic percussion) with modern hiphop styles and technology (analog synth, melodica, drum machine), pitting her seductive, sometimes multi-tracked velvet-silk vocals against it all. She usually employs live looping and sampling to build her dramatic, gothic-vibing, exploratory sound in a concert setting.

You can see her tonight at Sunset Tavern. Some alluring video below.