Los Angeles–based Stephin Merritt is best known as the principal singer and songwriter for The Magnetic Fields, whose albums include 69 Love Songs (1999; Merge) and 2010’s Realism (Nonesuch). Merritt’s work as a composer includes the scores for the films Pieces of April and Eban and Charley and the theatrical musicals My Life as a Fairytale and Coraline.

Based in New York City, The Third Wheel Band is a roots-Americana group composed of Steph Allen, Ryan Langlois, and Greg Barresi.

Micheal Hearst and Joshua Camp are One Ring Zero, the New York–based band whose 2007 album As Smart As We Are featured lyrics and songs by writers like Paul Auster, Margaret Atwood, and Jonathan Lethem. The band released Planets, a response to the 100th anniversary of Gustav Holst’s The Planets, in 2010.

Ryland Bouchard, the former mastermind of The Robot Ate Me, lives in Knoxville, TN. His albums include SEEDS (2008), Cowboys and Cuckoos (2009), and the EP Better This Than Nothing, which was released by Swim Slowly in 2010.

Cloud Nothings is the musical project of Cleveland-based multi-instrumentalist Dylan Baldi. His eight-song debut, Turning On, appeared in 2011; his subsequent release was 2012's Attack on Memory (Carpark).

Charlottesville, VA–based Andrew Cedermark, formerly guitarist for Titus Andronicus, released his first full-length solo effort, Moon Deluxe, on Underwater Peoples in 2010.

Festival is composed of Alexis, Lindsay, and Mike Powell, who live in Portland, OR; Chicago, IL; and Tucson, AZ respectively. The group’s debut album, Come, Arrow, Come, was released in 2008 on Language of Stone records.

Brooklyn-based Autre Ne Veut's self-titled debut album was released in September 2010 on Olde English Spelling Bee.

David Thomas Broughton released his full-length debut, The Complete Guide to Insufficiency, in 2005, and went on to collaborate with chamber ensemble 7 Hertz in 2007. The London-based singer-songwriter’s subsequent efforts include the 2011 album Outbreeding.

Laurie Schwartz is a composer, curator, and independent-radio producer based in Europe. Her music has been performed at major international venues and festivals, and released on CD by Academy, Edition Zeitklang, Cantate-Musicaphon, and Zeitkratzer.