Though most of the band's attention comes through an association with avant-garde English pop duo No-Man, Alias Grace, also a two-person outfit, stands well on its own merits as a lovely, hidden treasure of quiet, haunting music with folk, jazz, and pop leanings. Formed in Cambridge, England, in 1996, Alias Grace consists of Peter Chilvers, a multi-instrument player notable for his piano and guitar work in Samuel Smiles with No-Man's Tim Bowness, and Sandra O'Neill, an Irish-born singer with a simply enchanting, passionate voice. The two initially concentrated on performing rearrangements of favorite songs by other musicians in live performance, but by the time the first album, the striking Embers, appeared, Alias Grace had built up quite a strong repertoire of its own. The group's second and equally accomplished album, Storm Blue Evening, appeared in 2001 on Burning Shed, a new label set up by Bowness and Chilvers. ~ Ned Raggett, Rovi