“Music is just so in my blood and this is what I’ve always done - it’s what I do, it’s who I am. And it’s non-negotiable.” This is essence talking. Talking about, as it were, a suggestion from her grandfather that she consider going to law school, give up making music and get serious. And if you've gotten the sense that she declined, turned away from the well-worn path to conventional success for the sake of her music, you're right. You've gotten the first part of the picture when it comes to essence. So, yes - just to clear things up right now - essence is her real name. Her parents were flower children in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury, trailblazers of the Cultural Revolution. In a supernatural meeting of manifest destiny and bohemian spirit, her mother was visited in a dream by her unborn daughter - who announced herself as essence. And so essence she was named. Not that this sat particularly well with the young girl. "As kid, I wanted to fit in. I didn't want to be named essence," she says. "I wanted to be a Sue, or an Alice. But I feel like I've grown to appreciate my name." Though born and bred mostly in San Francisco, the city she calls home, essence moved extensively with her parents as a child - by her early teens she had already lived on three continents and attended over a dozen different schools. Growing up in a creative and chaotic environment, essence felt compelled to express herself from a young age. While her parents practiced the fine arts of sculpture and painting, essence worshipped the Beatles and Bob Dylan, along with her first female pop heroine, Madonna. After studying theater briefly at The American Conservatory, essence decided to chase her own muse rather than bring to life the works of others. She began writing songs at fifteen, finding music to be the ultimate medium to articulate her inner thoughts, and has kept on writing. She worked her way through San Francisco State University as an artist model while developing and refining her songwriting, vocal and guitar skills. Finding a kindred spirit and workmate in San Francisco independent producer Garth May, essence has written and recorded new material consistently over the last few years, producing first an independent album, Conception, that has sold over 5,000 units, and now the impressive, assured songs that make up her Or Music debut, Mariposa. "With Or Music I'm able to release my record in its entirety, the way [we] recorded it and produced it, without having to compromise any part of my creative process," she says. Having the creative freedom to release Mariposa as she intended it was a crucial point for essence, who has suffered through her share of major label politics and confusion before signing to Or Music. In 1998, essence was signed by Way Cool Music, only to have the label shuttered by its parent company, MCA. The following year essence was signed by RCA Records. Unfortunately, after RCA denied essence's request to work with her collaborator Garth May, the label and producer Bill Bottrell (Shelby Lynne, Sheryl Crow) met irreconcilable creative differences over the direction of essence's record, resulting in the project being shelved. "It was really frustrating and very disheartening to work on a record and not have it come out," essence says. Still, she continues, "I don't feel bitter about what happened with my major label experience. I feel like I got an education." And, she concludes, there was a silver lining to the end of her RCA deal. "It resulted in some of my most inspired songs. The week that my deal ended with RCA I wrote "Drop of Sunshine," "Little Innocent," "Still Crying" and "Love is the Price We Pay." With her creative enthusiasm untarnished, essence returned to the studio with her old friend Garth May in 2001, to focus on her new project - the album that would become Mariposa. An impressive record by any standard, Mariposa showcases essence's emotionally direct storytelling, music and lyrics, along with her winning humor and soul baring honesty. The 13 new songs on Mariposa - all but one of which were written or co-written by essence - combine her frank, imagistic songwriting with a unique sonic identity that is part stripped down acoustics, part lush, textured electronics. Many of her songs also walk the line between fantasy and reality, peppering innocent, dreamlike scenarios, with iconic pop culture references. From these paradoxes, a unique voice emerges. Songs like first single "Sleeping with the Driver," "Anything is Possible" and the wrenching, personal, album opener "Still Crying" show off essence's characteristic viewpoints and sense of whimsy - but also drive home the visceral emotions that root each song, and motivate the characters in each one. Though she has performed from a young age, essence first drew national attention when - out of over 5000 entrants - she won the Lilith Fair National Talent Search in 1998. She was subsequently invited to perform on Lilith Fair tour dates in each of the next two years, and gained exposure as a featured performer on an edition of VH1's music special "Women First." essence has also received heavy press coverage in the Bay Area - including features in the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner, The Bay Guardian and SF Weekly, among others. essence has also seen four of her songs featured on the A&E Network's hit show "The Division." Her riveting live performances - showcasing essence's soaring voice - have earned a devoted following in San Francisco, where she has already sold thousands of CDs, headlined some of the city's most prestigious rooms such as the Fillmore Auditorium, the Great American Music Hall, and Slim's and shared bills with the likes of Tom Petty, Shawn Colvin, Natalie Merchant, Ani DiFranco and Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes. After all the attention she's garnered, though, for essence the goal remains the same. "For me, the biggest thrill is in writing a song that I love - that's where the electricity is," she says. "I have been fortunate to have had such a great learning experiences, and now I want my music to speak for itself."
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