With a range spanning pristine high notes and a growling lower register, Katrina Ford is one of indie's most commanding -- and versatile -- vocalists. Her band Celebration's genre-defying blend of punk intensity, goth drama, R&B passion, and sweeping psychedelia provided a thrilling backdrop for her voice on albums such as 2005's self-titled debut and 2017's Wounded Healer, while the melodic shimmer of her other group Mt. Royal's 2014's self-titled EP reflected different dimensions to her talent. Meanwhile, collaborators including Future Islands, UNKLE, and TV on the Radio (who featured Ford on several songs, including 2004's incendiary single "Staring at the Sun") relied on her to add extra impact to their music. When she returned in 2022 with the Katrina Ford EP, she offered a more personal aspect to her always-stunning vocals and songwriting.

Ford and her partner in music and life, multi-instrumentalist Sean Antanaitis, started out in Ann Arbor's chaotic, early '90s noise-punk band Jaks, where Ford began exploring the formidable vocal style that shaped the sound of her future musical projects. After stints in Chicago and New Orleans, she and Antanaitis settled in Baltimore and formed Love Life, a band that traded Jaks' fury for a darker, more theatrical sound on 2001's The Rose He Lied By (on Troubleman) and the following year's Here Is Night, Brothers, Here the Birds Burn (on Jagjaguwar) before disbanding in 2003.

Later that year, Ford and Antanaitis formed the duo Birdland, which soon became Celebration with the addition of drummer David Bergander. The trio recorded their self-titled debut album with the help of TV on the Radio's David Sitek (Ford contributed vocals to several tracks on that band's Young Liars and Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, and later sang on Return to Cookie Mountain and Dear Science,). Sitek also introduced them to 4AD, which released the band's self-titled debut album that October. Celebration expanded on their dark, swirling blend of psych, goth, R&B, and more on 2007's The Modern Tribe and 2010's Hello Paradise: Electric Tarot (released on the band's own Friends Records label). During this time, Ford became an in-demand vocalist. In 2008, she appeared on the Dead Science's album Villainaire; two years later, she worked with Future Islands on the EP In the Fall, with UNKLE on the album Where Did the Night Fall, and with Sitek on the self-titled album from his project Maximum Balloon.

As Celebration continued to write and record, in 2012, Ford formed the group Mt. Royal with bassist Ed Harris, keyboardist Matt Pierce, guitarist Woody Lanere and drummer Mike Lowry. The band signed to Bella Union, releasing the single "Missing Reward" late in 2013 and their self-titled EP the following January. Celebration also signed to the label, which issued the group's fourth full-length, Albumin, in August 2014.

Following the release of Celebration's 2017 album Wounded Healer, a cathartic set of songs that paired midlife concerns with fantastical sounds, Ford was quiet for a few years. She resurfaced in June 2022 with her debut solo EP. Co-written and produced by Antanaitis, Katrina Ford once again showcased her voice and touched on all of the sounds she explored with her other projects. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi