Twenty-two year old Alison Sudol has been experiencing a love affair with words since she began reading the fantasy fiction of C.S. Lewis, E.B. White, Lewis Carroll and Charles Dickens at age 5.

Now, becoming her own passionate author of music lyrics, Sudol finds herself emerged in the world of mainstream music with her 2007 Virgin Records debut “One Cell In the Sea” - an album that has thus far garnered the young piano prodigy a handful of soaring reviews from Rolling Stone Magazine (who rated the album with three and half stars) to the underground music world’s Indie Xposed’s review, which labeled the debut as having “the accessibility to appeal to the mainstream, and the thought-provoking, insightful lyrics and unique musical style to make her an indie favorite.” In a story published by Interview Magazine, actress Selma Blair said of Sudol: “Her music is haunting.”

A Los Angeles native, Sudol taught herself to play the piano as a young girl and immersed herself in music such as British bands Coldplay, as well as the Icelandic music of Bjork. Now, with her beautiful, melodramatic voice, Sudol has captured the hearts of millions under her performing name, A Fine Frenzy, and her first hit single “Almost Lover” from the 2007 album “One Cell In the Sea.”

With tracks as diverse as her musical talent, which have been molded around her personal experiences and come to life as stories - much like those she read as a child - this album’s soft yet deep undertones are like soul food for music lovers who are aching to hear their tales of “luckless romance” and “hopeless dreams,” as Sudol expresses through beautiful and clear yet throaty lyrics in her first slow and melodic single “Almost Lover.”

In more up-beat and optimistic song “You Picked Me,” Sudol sings of the imagery and awakening of senses that are associated with falling in love and her expression of the ups and downs of lust. “Rangers,” her second release that has - along with “Almost Lover” - been made into a stunning video that engages audiences both visually and audibly, seems to describe the young songwriter’s desperate need to escape the harsh reality of the world and be in fantasy apart that she shares only with the one she loves.

Born in Seattle to parents who both teach dramatic arts, hit s artist has labeled by HARP Magazine as “a blend of sounds and influences. Where there’s Ella, Aretha and Louis, there’s also Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Aqualung and Keane.” In an Aug. 2007 interview with Aced Magazine, Sudol talked about how she came to adopt the best characteristics of her musically talented father and the bookworm-like habits of her mother, and how that influence respectively contributed to her debut album.

“[My parents] were wonderfully encouraging and let me find my own artistic legs,” Sudol said. “I chose music, but they stood behind me and made sure I had a safe place to grow and learn in. I was very lucky, and still am. I credit them with never trying to influence me, or mold me into mini-versions of them. They just let me be, and I managed to follow in their footsteps anyhow.”

Although the young woman has always been in love with words and expressing herself through her voice, it took some finagling and self-determination to get to the point in her career that she is at today, she said in the interview.

“My favorite thing in the world was writing songs, but I refused to learn how to play piano, or any other instrument, for that matter,” Sudol said. “It was very limiting creatively. At a certain point, I realized that rebelling against learning the piano was not a smart choice, and the only person suffering from it was me. So I learned. Now it’s one of my greatest joys, and I can’t bear to be separated from a piano for longer than a few days.”

Now that she has mastered both the art of playing piano and the art of making it big in the mainstream music business, Sudol is ready to take on the world. With her young talent, she surely has many years of success ahead of her and she said that her goals and dreams are limitless at this time. But with all that aside, she thinks she will probably just stick with music.

“Perhaps [I will become a novelist] one day. If I can come up with a good enough story, I might just,” Sudol said. “It would have to be quite something to hold my attention (and the reader’s), melody-free, for the amount of requisite pages. Otherwise I’d probably crumple it up and head to the piano.”

A Fine Frenzy has recently embarked on a national tour in support of her new release and can be caught in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, Chicago and Seattle - to name a few - through Nov. 2. For more information about A Fine Frenzy and her tour, visit www.afinefrenzy.com.