Las Vegas City Life

Jarboe spent more than 10 years with New York-based indie-goth cult band the Swans -- and the last six years in collaborations with various artists -- embarking on that search. Poet, singer, Internet artist, songwriter, performer -- Jarboe is all of these things and more. But beneath the seemingly dark and mysterious persona infused into her art is a genuine Southern lady, a real woman who has seen and done it all, but still finds everyday to be a new experience.

"I think now it seems to coincide with acute awareness of life," says Jarboe of the force that continues to motivate her. "It's a way of understanding how it's unfolding, a way to keep asking questions. People say you get to a certain place in your life where you have answers, or where you're complacent, or you know what you want. I can't seem to get to that place."

Though she has been immensely productive since the Swans' break-up in 1997, releasing five solo albums and working on more than 50 collaborative projects with a wide array of musical and visual artists, 2003 has Jarboe more excited -- and more visible -- than any other year in her long career. She has just started her first U.S. concert tour in six years with Italian band Larsen, the result of successful collaborations that began with a joint Jarboe/Larsen performance at ancient St. John's Church in Gdansk, Poland, earlier this year, documented on an upcoming DVD entitled Krzykognia ("Screaming Fire"). Jarboe is also contributing vocals to Larsen's next album.

by Pj Perez