Armed with the warmth of her cello, vocals that cut to the bone and lyrics that dance between darkness and light, Brisbane-based Monique Clare delivers unfeigned modern folk. Her beautifully quirky songs are born out of old folk traditions from Scandinavia and the USA, refined by her classical cello background and influenced by her love of progressive artists like Björk and Radiohead.

After taking out the Folk Alliance Australia's Young Artist of the Year award at the National Folk Festival, Monique Clare is returning to Canberra to launch her debut solo EP, "By The Stars". With a reputation for bringing her listeners to tears, her live shows delve into the genres and folk tunes that influence her original songs, with anything from Swedish polskas to solo Bach.