In a coolly inviting voice, strumming an acoustic guitar, Karen Elson summons up a dark yet seductive atmosphere… an after-midnight world that is irresistibly mysterious & alluring. Karen Elson is probably best known as a top model: the face of Armani, Prada, Chanel & Yves Saint Laurent’s perfume ‘Poison’. Most people are unaware that behind the scenes, she’s been conducting a secret life…
For 5yrs Karen’s been a member of The Citizens Band: a New York-based, Weimer-styled cabaret collective. At home in Nashville, she’s been busy writing songs… unsettling tales of dashed hope, romantic betrayal & various crimes of passion witnessed only by the full moon. The Ghost Who Walks is Karen Elson’s debut solo album, released by Third Man Records & XL (home to Elson’s husband’s “other” band, The White Stripes). Elson’s band features the virtuosic Jackson Smith on guitar, Elson’s longtime collaborator Rachelle Garniez on accordion & vocals, & producer Jack White (The White Stripes, Dead Weather, Raconteurs) on drums.
The arrangements evoke the lonesome side of country or the tormented side of the blues; with eerie organ touches, keening electric guitars & some mean rock swagger. Karen Elson name checks Mazzy Star, Nick Cave, Opal & most of all PJ Harvey as her early influences.
The Ghost Who Walks though, showcases a woman confidently treading her own country-noir path.
