Introducing: Shannon Stephens

Name: Shannon Stephens
From: Seattle, Washington
Story: The long-awaited return of Sufjan's old foil
Sound: Graceful, downcast singer-songwriter-ism

These 'introducing' pieces are usually a place where you can make the acquaintance of brand new bands. But this week's introductee, Shannon Stephens, has been around a long time. Or, perhaps that should be: has been away a long time. The Seattle-based songstress released her first, self-titled solo album, in 2000, back when Bill Clinton was US President and Fred Durst was famous. Since then? Crickets.

All that will change September 8, with the arrival of Stephens' second album, The Breadwinner, on the Asthmatic Kitty, the label founded by Sufjan Stevens. Stephens and Stevens (no relation, obviously) share a long history: in the '90s, as students at Hope College, the pair were the driving forces behind the indie-folk outfit Marzuki. The band went their separate ways in 1999, and shortly thereafter Stephens released her debut.

In the time it's taken Stephens to get around to her follow-up, her old Marzuki band-mate has released six albums and one Christmas-themed box-set, and become one of the biggest of all names out the indie universe. Stephens, on the contrary, has laid low in her Seattle home, playing the role of wife and mother. Drawing on those experiences, The Breadwinner is an album of domestic devotionals, hushed and intimate.

On "In Summer in the Heat," the song being advance-previewed by Asthmatic Kitty, Stephens hums a sweet lullaby about sweaty summer nights pressed against the skin of your lover. It's an incredibly tender tune that, for those who missed Stephens the first time around, serves as a perfect introduction.

• Listen: Shannon Stephens, "In Summer in the Heat"

Photo © La Luz Photography