Comments for Nowottny Marianne, afraid of me

Ms. Nowottny, who was born in 1982, has astonished the downtown New York music and art scene with the release of her first CD, entitled "afraid of me" (Abaton-001). She is a high school sophomore who has mastered the concertmate 990 keyboard, loves to eat french onion soup and collect buttons for her backpack. She has at the age of 16 begun a unique musical and artistic journey that we will document here for all who are interested. INSIDER TIP#1: Her first name is pronounced "Mah-ri-ah-na" not "MaryAnn", her middle name is Wilhelmine. She comes from a German American family, and has two brothers and a half-sister. After learning the rudiments of piano playing from her mother, she developed a style that references the scales and modes of eastern music, American popular song and electronic pop-rock. She incorporates introspective leaps of imagination in her lyrics and song structure both arcane and complex. She is able to present this as a kind of avant-pop expressionism, aloof but still accessible, it is her own type of "popmusic"

Marianne Nowottny is 16-years-old. She was recently featured on the cover of NYPress (3/3/99). The Village Voice has called her "the first big pop surprise of the D.I.Y. CD-R era." (Wolk)