Biography
Before launching her own solo career, Sasha Bell had already earned recognition on the indie pop landscape as a vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist tied to the Elephant 6 collective. Her songs deliver sharply crafted pop that draws from the chamber pop, folk rock, psychedelic pop, and sunshine pop of earlier decades while conveying warmth and optimism free of sentimentality or excess sweetness. Early audiences discovered her through contributions to the Ladybug Transistor on 1999’s The Albemarle Sound and to the Essex Green on 2005’s Cannibal Sea, along with her own side project Finishing School and its 2003 release Destination Girl, ahead of the official solo bow Love Is Alright in 2019.
Born in Cooperstown, New York, Bell began studying piano in kindergarten and added flute and guitar during elementary school. After high school she attended Yale while continuing to perform and compose. In 1991 she was based in Burlington, Vermont, where she co-founded Guppyboy alongside Jeff Baron, Michael Barrett, Zach Ward, and Chris Ziter; the group merged Americana and indie pop elements. The band issued the EP Rani in late 1992, then shifted to Chicago in early 1993 to focus on new material and refine its approach. By mid-1994 the members had moved back East, though Bell had already left the lineup; she later contributed to the group’s 1997 album Jeffersonville. That same year she settled in Brooklyn, New York, soon followed by Baron, Barrett, and Ziter.
Bell joined Gary Olson’s Ladybug Transistor, whose sound merged psychedelia, folk-rock, and indie pop within a chamber-pop framework, shortly after the 1997 album Beverley Atonale. She performed on The Albemarle Sound (1999), Argyle Heir (2001), and The Ladybug Transistor (2003). Simultaneously she participated in the Essex Green, which she formed with Baron, Barrett, and Ziter; the band evoked the bright tones of 1970s pop and folk-rock while showcasing Bell’s work on vocals, keyboards, guitar, and flute. Their first release, a five-song EP, appeared via the Elephant 6 collective in early 1999, followed later that year by the full-length Everything Is Green on Kindercore.
Bell’s final recordings with the Ladybug Transistor came on Argyle Heir as she concentrated on the Essex Green and on Finishing School, whose debut album Destination Girl arrived in 2003. The Essex Green returned the same year with The Long Goodbye, their initial release for Merge Records. After issuing 2006’s Cannibal Sea, the group faced logistical hurdles once Bell relocated to San Francisco while her bandmates were based in Pennsylvania and Vermont. Following the arrival of her daughter, Bell stepped away from music for several years to focus on family and train as a pastry chef. She kept writing songs throughout this interval and announced plans for a solo album in 2013, tracking material with several California musicians and turning to crowdfunding to finish the project.
Additional steps delayed completion: Bell and her family settled in Missoula, Montana; she guested with the Sixth Great Lake—featuring multiple Guppyboy veterans—on the 2013 album Up the Country; and the Essex Green reunited for 2018’s Hardly Electronic. She persisted with the solo recordings, enlisting further Missoula players, and released Love Is Alright in November 2019 on her own Both Sides Now label.
Born in Cooperstown, New York, Bell began studying piano in kindergarten and added flute and guitar during elementary school. After high school she attended Yale while continuing to perform and compose. In 1991 she was based in Burlington, Vermont, where she co-founded Guppyboy alongside Jeff Baron, Michael Barrett, Zach Ward, and Chris Ziter; the group merged Americana and indie pop elements. The band issued the EP Rani in late 1992, then shifted to Chicago in early 1993 to focus on new material and refine its approach. By mid-1994 the members had moved back East, though Bell had already left the lineup; she later contributed to the group’s 1997 album Jeffersonville. That same year she settled in Brooklyn, New York, soon followed by Baron, Barrett, and Ziter.
Bell joined Gary Olson’s Ladybug Transistor, whose sound merged psychedelia, folk-rock, and indie pop within a chamber-pop framework, shortly after the 1997 album Beverley Atonale. She performed on The Albemarle Sound (1999), Argyle Heir (2001), and The Ladybug Transistor (2003). Simultaneously she participated in the Essex Green, which she formed with Baron, Barrett, and Ziter; the band evoked the bright tones of 1970s pop and folk-rock while showcasing Bell’s work on vocals, keyboards, guitar, and flute. Their first release, a five-song EP, appeared via the Elephant 6 collective in early 1999, followed later that year by the full-length Everything Is Green on Kindercore.
Bell’s final recordings with the Ladybug Transistor came on Argyle Heir as she concentrated on the Essex Green and on Finishing School, whose debut album Destination Girl arrived in 2003. The Essex Green returned the same year with The Long Goodbye, their initial release for Merge Records. After issuing 2006’s Cannibal Sea, the group faced logistical hurdles once Bell relocated to San Francisco while her bandmates were based in Pennsylvania and Vermont. Following the arrival of her daughter, Bell stepped away from music for several years to focus on family and train as a pastry chef. She kept writing songs throughout this interval and announced plans for a solo album in 2013, tracking material with several California musicians and turning to crowdfunding to finish the project.
Additional steps delayed completion: Bell and her family settled in Missoula, Montana; she guested with the Sixth Great Lake—featuring multiple Guppyboy veterans—on the 2013 album Up the Country; and the Essex Green reunited for 2018’s Hardly Electronic. She persisted with the solo recordings, enlisting further Missoula players, and released Love Is Alright in November 2019 on her own Both Sides Now label.
Albums
Singles
