Abby Payne

Like one of her biggest creative influences (Bjork), Abby Payne seems to make her own little world with every song, every album, and every music video. Sometimes, as with her new concept album, The Gunfighter Meets His Match (which is forthcoming this year along with a short story of the same title, and is inspired by Louis L'Amour's frontier stories), this is an explicitly aesthetic representation of content. But just as often, Payne's creation of a world entails nothing more—and nothing less—than a total, authentic commitment to the peculiar and magical universe that is a great song. And her songs are great: reminiscent of Fiona Apple, they feature interesting and sometimes intricate orchestration, but never at the expense of the pure and visceral immediacy of unaffected lyrics, a smoky, warm voice, and a refreshing earnestness that harkens back to the era of the Great American Songbook.