Shannon Wright is an American singer-songwriter. She was born in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

, United States, where she spent her childhood. Former member of the band Crowsdell, Shannon Wright moved from New York to

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

in 1998, and while in Chapel Hill, Wright started writing songs and playing them for friends. With their encouragement she sent a 4-track cassette tape to a friend of a friend who started Overcoat Records. They released her first 7" ''A Tin Crown for the Social Bash''. Later that year, Wright signed with

Touch and Go Records Touch and Go Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. After its genesis as a handmade fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s underground and alternative rock scenes. To ...

in 1999 from Chicago, releasing six albums. Wright signed with Vicious Circle (France) in 2003 and continues to release records with them. In 2012, Wright signed with Ernest Jennings and released ''Secret Blood'' and ''In Film Sound'' in the States.

Recording career

''FlightSafety'' Wright's first record received critical acclaim for her lyrics and songwriting abilities. ''FlightSafety'' consists of simple guitar and piano chord progressions with vocal melodies. Wright plays almost all the instruments on this release and all other releases following FlightSafety. ''Maps of Tacit'' Recorded with Andy Baker and Steve Albini. "Overall, ''Maps of Tacit'' finds Wright growing more adventurous both as a composer and performer; it's a dark and challenging work, yet it isn't off-putting or overly harrowing, and its bracing experimentalism and originality suggest even greater things to come." – ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' review by Steve Huey. ''Perishable Goods'' was a limited mini-album compiled of appearances by: Alan Sparhawk of Low, Crooked Fingers, and Rachel Grimes and Christian Fredrickson from Rachel's. ''Dyed in the Wool'', recorded with Andy Baker and Steve Albini. Appearances on the album include label-mates Shipping News, Rachel's and Heather Macintosh. ''Over the Sun'' recorded with

Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...

; although Wright had recorded with Albini before on several occasions (''Maps of Tacit'' & ''Dyed in the Wool''), this was the first time Wright and Albini completed a full-length record together. This album comes closest to capturing her raw live-performances. ''Yann Tiersen and Shannon Wright''; Sharing 50–50 songwriting credits with French musician and composer

Yann Tiersen Yann Pierre Tiersen (born 23 June 1970) is a French Breton musician and composer. His musical career is split between studio recordings, music collaborations, and film soundtracks songwriting. His music incorporates a large variety of classical ...

. ''Let in the Light'' recorded with Andy Baker. Wright moves back to her slightly simpler instrumentation and recording styles, exploring

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

and unorthodox piano melodies with a bit of classical influence. "Shannon Wright is an example of that shocking, spooky thing: a natural." –

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''Honeybee Girls'' Piano, organ, guitars, violin, cello with indistinct tones. ''Secret Blood'' ''In Film Sound'' was recorded in 2013 with Kevin Ratterman in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. Recorded mostly live as a three-piece with Todd Cook on bass and Kyle Crabtree on drums. "It's emblematic of the tense, discomforting oeuvre Wright favors from terse noisy bursts of guitar to moody minor key elegies." –

Creative Loafing Creative Loafing is an Atlanta-based publisher of an arts and culture news and events newspaper/magazine. The company historically published a weekly publication that once had a 160,000 weekly circulation. While Creative Loafing is no longer p ...

''Division'' – 2017 album recorded in Paris and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

at KML Studios with David Chalmin. "Wright's songwriting reaches a new perfection in the most tenuous murmurs, where it is still a tear that works, an evil that clings, a fermenting poison. The nuances are all here: less guitar and more piano give the impression of

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

– but flooded – or aquarium – but overturned. This frightened indecision, this trouble of the eyes too wide open, is the very art of Shannon Wright, very pure singer, too rare." – Les Inrocks Paris, France

Filmscores

* Original score for the film '' Les Confins du Monde'' – " To the Ends of the World". Directed by: Guillaume Nicloux. Starring Gaspard Ulliel. Screened at the 2018

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

in the Directors' Fortnight section. * Original score by Shannon Wright for the documentary ''Homemade''.

Other works

* Wright provided songs for '' The Key'' (French: ''La Clef''), a 2007 French thriller film directed by Guillaume Nicloux and starring

Guillaume Canet Guillaume Canet (; born 10 April 1973) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter, and Show jumping, show jumper. Canet began his career in theatre and television before moving to film. He starred in several films like ''Joyeux Noël'', ...

. * Wright provided vocals for "Last Things Last" on '' Systems/Layers'' for the band Rachel's. * Wright covered the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

song "

I Started a Joke "I Started a Joke" is a song by the Bee Gees from their 1968 album Idea (album), ''Idea'', which was released as a single in December of that year. It was not released as a single in the United Kingdom, where buyers who could not afford the al ...

" on Perishable Goods E.P. * Wright covers

The Smiths The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...

song "

Asleep Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and certain sensory activity is inhibited. During sleep, there is a marked decrease in muscle activity and interactions with the surrounding environme ...

" on both A Junior Hymn / Asleep and Honeybee Girls * Wright played

All Tomorrow's Parties "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released as the band's debut single in 1966. The song is from their 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. Inspiration for the so ...

in 2002 UK curated by

Shellac Shellac () is a resin secreted by the female Kerria lacca, lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. Chemically, it is mainly composed of aleuritic acid, jalaric acid, shellolic acid, and other natural waxes. It is processed and s ...

, 2003 ATP/PACIFIC curated by

Matt Groening Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is best known as the creator of the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Futurama'' (1999–2003, 2008–2013, 2 ...

, 2007 UK curated by

Dirty Three Dirty Three are an Australian instrumental rock band, consisting of Warren Ellis (musician), Warren Ellis (violin, keyboards), Mick Turner (electric guitar, organ and bass) and Jim White (drummer), Jim White (drums), which formed in 1992. Their ...

and the 2012 UK ATP curated again by

* "

Hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning the 'land behind' a city, a port, or similar. Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated wi ...

" from Wright's ''Dyed in the Wool'' was used in Julien Levy's movie ''The Shape of Art to Come'' (2011).

Album discography

* ''Flightsafety'' (1999) * ''Maps of Tacit'' (2000) * ''Perishable Goods'' (2001) * ''Dyed in the Wool'' (2002) * ''Over the Sun'' (2004) * ''Let in the Light'' (2007) * ''Yann Tiersen & Shannon Wright'' (2007) * ''Honeybee Girls'' (2009) * ''Secret Blood'' (2010) * ''In Film Sound'' (2013) * ''Division'' (2017) * ''Providence'' (2019) * ''Reservoir of Love'' (2025)

References

External links

Shannon Wright Official Facebook Page

Shannon Wright's USA Record Label

Shannon Wright's French Record Label
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Shannon American alternative rock musicians American indie rock musicians American women singer-songwriters Art rock musicians American rock songwriters American rock singers Touch and Go Records artists American women punk rock singers Singers from New York City American punk rock singers Songwriters from Florida Songwriters from New York (state) Guitarists from New York City Musicians from Jacksonville, Florida 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American women pianists 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American songwriters Living people Year of birth missing (living people)