It is thus hardly surprising that Via Tania, the peripatetic singer/songwriter/arranger and producer would name the second track on her album after this contemporary artist. She says that Boltanski's work is "so moving, it's about missing people, isn't it?" In so many ways, this characterizes the shifting moods of her debut album ‘Under a Different Sky’ (Chocolate Industries), an extraordinary and mesmerizing record which completely disregards current orthodoxies of 'underground' music. And "missing people" is an ambiguous phrase insofar as it can refer to people who are missing and the experience of longing for someone not close by. Given Tania's desire to live between Chicago, where she made the album, and her natal country, Australia, her fondness for Boltanski's work resonates in her personal and artistic life.

Tania Bowers was born in South Africa, but her teenage years were spent in Sydney. She recalls her extra-curricular activities there: "I would sneak into venues starting when I was about sixteen, and see bands like The Hummingbirds, Fatcat. In fact, by the time I was eighteen, it wasn't so exciting, 'coz I'd been doing it for years!" The influence of the loud, punky, garage-y bands she saw in tiny venues led to her desire to make music. Tania explains that "at around sixteen, I began writing songs. I didn't write music, but since the age of ten, my parents had insisted that my older sister and I take guitar and piano lessons. So, we knew the chords and we formed a band, just playing around at really small venues. We'd play noisy guitar stuff, in the spirit of the Ramones. "

She and her sister dissolved their band after a short period, and that is when Tania's sensibilities took a sharp turn away from the punk aesthetic which informed her earlier songwriting, "When my sister and I stopped playing music together, I felt like I wanted to make music that was the opposite of what my sister and I played. I wanted to make really minimal music. I knew this guy Tony (Dupe) who had a beachfront studio. He was learning to engineer, and I worked with him in this beautiful studio that had huge windows looking out on the beach. That's where I recorded "Sunday", which came out in Australia. The first time I was in Chicago, Casey (Rice) introduced me to Seven, who heard the song and released it on his Chocolate Industries label in the US.”

Clearly, the city had made a profound impression on her and this was to lead to an increased activity in her musical career. After all, she already knew Casey Rice, one of the pivotal figures in path-breaking collective, Tortoise, and, at that historical moment, there was a closely-knit, fraternal music scene in Chicago, in which she rapidly became involved. Her first EP, which she said began as one song and evolved into a six-song release, only hinted at what was to be actualized on her album. 'Dream of...' is a fractured, unsettling set of songs that are at once minimal and busy. On ‘Universe City,’ the music is powerfully delicate, shot through with strange chord changes and Tania's hesitant vocals. Following the EP, Tania released the ‘Lightning' & Thunder’12", which contained a shattering cover of New Order's transcendent ‘Temptation.’

Tania talks about recording the album, 'Under a Different Sky,' in Chicago: "Recording the album was also the process of my learning how to use Pro-Tools. So, it was Casey Rice, whom I'd met when Tortoise toured Australia, and I playing bits of songs I'd written, then me saying, 'my turn's done, you have a go'. The album wouldn't have turned out the way it did if we'd recorded in long blocks of time. We'd record a couple of days a week. Sometimes we'd have Doug McCombs come in and play, and we'd use parts of his work."

The record, as well as previous Via Tania projects, involved the prolific Atlantian/ Barcelonian analogue prankster Scott Herren (aka Prefuse 73, Savath + Savalas, etc.). He co-produced ‘I Dream Again’ and ‘Lightning & Thunder’ on the full-length. Tania explains, "We sent him what we had, he worked on it, sent it back and we'd work again on his changes."

The final result is a beautiful, disturbing record, like a mirage seen through heat rising off hot tarmac on an empty highway. Undoubtedly critics will search for comparisons to Tania's singular voice. It's a trope in music criticism that is far from exhausted. Thus one can imagine parallels made between Tania and some combination of Kristin Hersh, Kate Bush, Barbara Manning, early Bjork, etc. etc. But these are all entirely out of place. Instead, one should concentrate on the fragile eccentricity of Tania's vocals and songs. And it's an eccentricity that is fully uncontrived. Her range is extraordinary and the minor-key chord changes can suddenly give away to off-kilter, hoarse exclamations. The reiterated roots dub effects are a perfect counterpoint to Tania's songwriting. Crucially though, this record marks a significant turning point in the mottled history of what unfortunately gets called "electronica." It is the moment when songs as opposed to vocals sung over a track are foregrounded. Sure, Tania's records have a strong electronic component but that dimension complements, never overshadows the song structures.

Thus, this antipodean refugee, who is now back in the city of Melbourne, can await critical acclaim for her debut album. And Tania says she'll be in the US this summer to play live. You'll certainly be looking forward to it.