A cat scratching in her throat, full of banter and insolent, tearing cracks through nature: Natalie Findlay comes from the same bloodline as PJ Harvey or The Kills’ Alison Mosshart.

Born and raised in Manchester, but far enough away from the grips of its elders The Smiths and Joy Division, Findlay invents herself as a true original, electric guitar swinging at her side. At 17 she signs to a major label, but the dream soon turns into a complete misadventure, for her personally and for her art. Craving to regain her freedom, she creates her own label, Mint Records, signs to BMG and escapes for good.

Today Findlay runs and jumps across genres. She revisits 90s grunge, flies up into the skies of shoegaze and creates lightning with hip-hop, before landing in a dream world of garage pop. She loves Motown artists, psychedelic rock, blues and well as hip-hop, she creates electronic soundscapes drawing from all styles to mix and create textures filled with aspiration. She composes alone, mostly on guitar, sometimes on piano, or turns her voice and words into drum rhythms to serve as a canvas, always on the lookout for strange sounds and new distortions, carried by her addictive choruses.

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]