* En anglais uniquement
Carissa's Wierd founding member Jenn Ghetto makes elegant, yearning synth pop as
Jenn Champion. The project followed four solo albums of guitar-centric lo-fi as
S in the 2000s and early 2010s. With a more atmospheric, synth-based sound in the tradition of '80s post-punk, she made her debut as
Jenn Champion in 2016 with the single "No One." The project's first album, 2018's
Single Rider, added light touches of smooth sophisti-pop and quirky indie electronica to the mix.
Jenn Ghetto co-founded the deliberately misspelled
Carissa's Wierd with
Mat Brooke in 1995 after the two of them relocated to Seattle, Washington from Tucson, Arizona. While the group's lineup shifted over the course of three albums released between 1999 and 2002, notable bandmates included singer/songwriter
Sera Cahoone and then-drummer
Ben Bridwell, who went on to form
Band of Horses with
Brooke. In the meantime, Ghetto issued the solo album SADSTYLE under the moniker
S in 2001.
Carissa's Wierd officially disbanded in 2003, and the
S LP Puking and Crying followed on Suicide Squeeze Records in 2004. Her third LP, i'm not as good at it as you, arrived in 2010 via Own Records, and she recorded a more fleshed-out final
S album,
Cool Choices, with a backing band and producer
Chris Walla. It was released by Hardly Art in 2014.
Ghetto dropped the
S alias and shifted toward a more keyboard-oriented post-punk sound on "No One" in 2016, using the pseudonym
Jenn Champion. Remaining with Hardly Art, the subsequent
No One EP included remixes by indie electronic artists including
Crater,
USF, and
Breakmaster Cylinder.
Champion covered
Yes' "Owner of a Lonely Heart" in April of 2018, then presented her first
Champion album via Hardly Art that July. Titled
Single Rider, it was produced by
Brian Fennell (Barcelona,
SYML). ~ Marcy Donelson