For several weeks in early 1997, The Fierce Blonde and Her Plucked String Instrument toured a small, obscure island nation in the South Pacific, mesmerizing the locals with her rapturous musical numbers. Little of the modern world penetrates the vast solitude in which the small, obscure island nation dwells; the stir created by Girly-Girl's performances were, as one can imagine, formidable. Many were the acolytes who crawled from hither and yon just for the opportunity to listen to and accompany her cherubic voice singing her sometimes dark tunes. Along with Joey Burns and John Convertino, known on the mainland as Calexico, Auntie Babs collaborated with some of the small, obscure island nation's most promising protÈgÈs, among them David Kilgour of The Clean, Robert Scott of the Bats, David Mitchell of the 3Ds, Denise Roughan of the 3Ds and Siltbreeze recording artists the Renderers, Communion licensing artist Chris Knox of Tall Dwarfs, and Graeme Downes of the Verlaines. The fruits of this labor are unlike anything with which Hello-Berbra has yet been involved-- torchy and brooding, gentle and involving, intimate and distant. Tales of fatalistic love, macabre artifacts, noisome baked goods, and loss of virtue. Dig her mood.