Molly Thompson

Molly Thompson is a composer and singer who writes music that Global Rhythm calls “hauntingly beautiful” and the New York Times describes as “rhapsodic music with…jazzy outbursts and exuberant chaos.”



Her most recent album, Ash (2007, White Lime Records), is a collection of eleven songs that All About Jazz Italia calls “some of the most beautiful songs ever heard.” Time out Chicago says Thompson “has a sultry voice, somewhere between Lotte Lenya and the pop icon Nico…Equal parts smoky lounge music, turn-of-the-century Berlin cabaret and Medieval chanson…Thompson’s blend of recognizable genres is fascinating and unique.”



In addition to writing and performing her own songs, Thompson also writes music for concerts, independent film, and multimedia performance. The LA Times called her Draft of Shadows “a clever mash-up of tango, rock rhythms, and taped city noises, more party music than parlor music” and Spoleto Today called The Great Hush “eerie and lovely.” She has been commissioned by California E.A.R. Unit, Composers Collaborative, Kathleen Supové, Margaret Lancaster, and Demetrius Spaneas and has been resident at Villa Montalvo, I-Park, Bang on a Can Summer’s Institute, and the Oregon Bach Festival. She has also received funding from Meet the Composer for her theater piece called The Scream with slam poet Regie Cabico and director Michael Montel.



Thompson’s music is performed at venues as diverse as New York City performance spaces and nightclubs, new music festivals, and Parisian jazz clubs. “On stage, her music comes across to the listener as honestly raw and yet sophisticatedly crafted, filled with intimate lyrics and intriguing cross-genre influences…her musical personality seems to draw a curtain around some more mysterious internal characters. It keeps her audiences on their toes…” (New Music Box)