For Robyn Cage, the desert gives life. Born in the Utah desert as Robyn Kemp, she went on to become an accomplished actress in New York. When Robyn came to a crucial turning point in her life, she migrated back to her expansive arid birthplace and was creatively and soulfully reawakened as Robyn Cage, a transcendent alternative-pop artist with an entrancing, and authentic yet theatrical, artistic sensibility. Now she releases her debut album, Born In The Desert. “Rebirth is a huge theme of the album,” the Park City, Utah-based singer-songwriter-pianist reveals. “I was born in the Utah desert, and metaphorically reborn when I returned to write these songs. The Utah desert is mysterious and epic with strange rock formations and lots of openness. I wanted the songs to have that same feeling, like an escape to another world that is dark but beautiful.” Robyn’s sensually emotive vocals and mystical musicality have garnered her favorable comparisons to Adele, Fiona Apple, Lana Del Rey, and Florence + the Machine. Her artistry, however, is singular: Robyn’s pristine vocals can shift deftly from smoldering low tones skyward to soaring high tones. Her Classical-informed piano playing and penchant for vintage ivories imbues her playing and compositional style with majestic expressiveness. Moreover, her background in theater enables her to create a captivating, richly emotionally, and profoundly sympathetic music video oeuvre. Robyn has worked with two time Grammy-nominated producer Darryl Neudorf (Neko Case, Sarah McLachlan), and Grammy-nominated and Juno Award-winning producer Dan Burns (Rachael Yamagata, Lenka, Michelle Branch). As a performer, she’s dazzled audiences from Boston’s Symphony Hall, to thousands at outdoor festivals, and the prestigious and intimate singer-songwriter circuit in New York City. Working under her birth name, Robyn Kemp, she’s a professional actress, trained at the Boston Conservatory and praised by The New York Times and Variety. A selection of Robyn’s acting career highlights include Boardwalk Empire (HBO), The Freemason (feature film), Beautiful Beast (feature film), and Swing Vote (award-winning short), among other credits including a robust profile in New York and regional theater. Robyn’s transformative moment toward a career in music intriguingly occurred just as she established herself as busy working actress in the cutthroat New York City scene. While lost in the blur of the working actress’s schedule, she had a moment of clarity. “I reached this level of unhappiness where I hit a breaking point. I didn’t know what needed to change so I changed everything,” Robyn confides. As a child, Robyn was something of a music prodigy, and at 11 years of age she won national and international awards for an original composition. However, the pressure to follow up the piece, and the suffocating lifestyle of a child virtuoso, proved to be too much. “I wanted to have friends and a social life,” she admits. During this time, Robyn became passionate about singing, buoyed by the aggressive expressivity of artists such as Fiona Apple and Tori Amos. It wasn’t until during her crossroads period as an actor searching for authentic expression when she would meaningfully connect her gifts for composing and singing. In a pivotal moment, she found herself in Central Park with a notebook jotting down song ideas with a fresh take on old talents. From then on, a new era began—Robyn Kemp discovered Robyn Cage. Picture FOLLOW ON TWITTER FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM Follow @robyncagemusic The name change was an empowering gesture of both self-acceptance and self-recreation. This is the spirit central to Robyn Cage’s Born In The Desert. “My message is to embrace your uniqueness, and love what makes you different,” she says. Robyn’s debut album sweeps the listener away to those vast, arid, and mysterious lands with the ethereal chiming pop of the opening track,” The Arsonist & The Thief.” Highlights along the way include “Burning Now,” the title track, “Larger Than Life,” and “Theatre Noir.” The hauntingly beautiful “Burning Now” is a breakup song searing with remorse, regret, and reflection. Here Robyn sings with emotionality that’s both stinging and stirring, her vocals are angelic but ghostly--she’s singing from a weary and painfully conflicted past. Within the exquisitely textured pop of the title track, Robyn details her powerful story with poetry, poignancy, and captivating metaphors. The courageous vulnerability, and the darkly cathartic pop hooks, of “Larger Than Life” offer a stirring statement to those stuck in a toxic relationship. “That song is about knowing when to leave. The message there is for people to be their larger selves and make a brave change,” Robyn says. The album’s most stunning statement is the closer, the saloon ragtime piano pop of “Theatre Noir.” With panache, it celebrates uncompromising individuality. “That was a turning point for me artistically. Now, I don’t worry if something is too weird,” she says laughing. “It’s the most ‘me’ track and when I perform it I feel like I come alive.” The song has become a live show favorite, spurring audiences into dancing and joining in on the Robyn Cage experience. Robyn’s videos only enhance her mesmerizing musicality. Currently, the tracks “Born In The Desert,” “Burning Now,” “Larger Than Life,” and “Theatre Noir” have been brought to life through gorgeously theatrical videos that whisk the viewer away to another world. “I want my music to feel like an escape the way a fantasy novel does--beautiful, and a little dark and romantic,” Robyn explains. Grammy-nominated producer Dan Burns (Carina Round, Diddy, Racheal Yamagata) produced, mixed, and engineered the sessions. For these sessions, Dan assembled a deeply intuitive cast of all-star studio musicians. Thinking about life after Born In The Desert, Robyn says: “I have a stronger sense of who I am and what I’m about. I’m much less afraid to be different and weird. I want people who listen to the album to know that despite the ups and downs of the emotional journey of self-acceptance, it’s all beautiful in the end.”