This is Eliza Wren Payne. She's from Utah, is bald, wears arm-warmers, has dimples, and is awesome.
I saw her supporting Nik Kershaw (yes, 1980s legend Nik Kershaw - we don't need to go into why I was there) at the Luminaire in Kilburn a couple of weeks ago.
When Eliza came onstage I expected her to either be another Winehouse clone or one of those purveyors of faux-Celtic melancholy (not necessarily a slight - I myself am one of this tribe, all plucked strings and yodelly sighs and references to broken-off love affairs and flowers that have withered all).
But she wasn't.
She sings playful, artfully arranged songs with a beautiful but not showy voice that slips seamlessly between low and jazzy, sweet and scratchy, and high and operatic.
And she smiles. A lot.
Come and check out her stuff over the jump.
This is her video for "Dance Song":
And here she is performing "Galleons" live, a song originally written by her father, musician Marvin Payne:
Eliza Wren Payne is based in the UK and regularly plays live. If you like your music being about the music and not the musician, go and see her live. Her website lists upcoming gigs.
Image courtesy of SteveGJ's Flickr stream.
