Although Emilie Simon is a conservatory-trained experimental musician with a strong theoretical grounding, she has also made a name for herself both as a mainstream soundtrack composer and as an electronic pop musician not far removed from Björk or the Knife, with a distinctively soft, almost babyish voice that at times recalls both early Kate Bush and Claudine Longet. Born in the small coastal city of Montpellier, France in 1978 into a musical family, Simon was finally properly introduced to American audiences through the 2006 release of The Flower Book, a compilation of tracks from her first three European albums. ~ Stewart Mason