Singer/songwriter Gin Wigmore crafts emotional, intelligent folk-pop in the vein of contemporaries like Feist, Fiona Apple, and Brandi Carlile. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, her big break came after beating out 11,000 talented participants to win the International Songwriting Contest in New York, which resulted in a record deal with Universal Music Australia. Wigmore released her debut EP, with the award-winning "Hallelujah" (a deeply personal song that dealt with the passing of her father) as its centerpiece, in 2008. A full-length debut, Holy Smoke, arrived one year later, featuring performances by former Ryan Adams backing band the Cardinals. Gravel & Wine, originally released in New Zealand in 2011 and in the U.S. in 2013, was a huge-sounding dance-pop album that, like her debut, went platinum in New Zealand. Wigmore headed to Blakeslee Recording Studios in North Hollywood, California for her third studio long-player, the much-anticipated Blood to Bone.nn Recorded during a two-week period in California, 2015's Blood to Bone saw Wigmore introducing a more electronics-forward sound, and in 2017 she gave birth to her first child, Ivory Nashoba Butler, who would become the namesake of her fourth studio long-player, 2018's Ivory. ~ James Christopher Monger