Reviews & Press (also see Interviews)
"'All my love letters are forged,' sings Ellia Bisker, one of a series of biting admissions on a lovely, lush single awash with strings and horns. The ukulele is just a bonus."
-Wicked Local
-Wicked Local
"One of New York's most intriguing songwriting forces...rock star command and intelligently crafted music."
-The Deli Magazine
-The Deli Magazine
"Sweet Soubrette have crafted a compelling bitter-sweet pop song of the highest order."
-The 405
-The 405
"Brooklyn's stylish, ukulele-powered indie rocker Sweet Soubrette."
-DOA
-DOA
"Dark and sultry...not quite vaudeville, not quite cabaret, Sweet Soubrette certainly has a sound that is truly their own...intoxicating and addicting."
-Indie Music Reviewer
-Indie Music Reviewer
"If ever a tune was deserving of the adjective 'lovely', this is surely it."
-either/or
-either/or
"Sweet Soubrette's style comes with a pinch of Regina Spektor quirk and a spoonful of old-timey burlesque."
-Time Out New York
-Time Out New York
"An indie insider...enchanting."
-Metro NY
-Metro NY
"Saucy femme fatale."
-Windows Media Guide
-Windows Media Guide
"...thrilling to hear the lush, big sound she gets with her band on the CD, with strings, horns and keyboards...the connecting center is the girlish but smoldering voice of the Soubrette herself."
-Travalanche
-Travalanche
"Sweet Soubrette's music is modern and sonically diverse...talented instrumentalists, lyricism and tightly sung melodies make for a really exciting listen."
-WBRS 100.1 FM
-WBRS 100.1 FM
"Dark, confessional lyrics delivered by the ukelele-wielding Ellia Bisker, who somehow comes across as sweet and charming while simultaneously laying waste to all your romantic notions of love and urban happiness...she definitely got under my skin."
-Feast of Music (CMJ 2011 Recap)
-Feast of Music (CMJ 2011 Recap)
"What makes a Sweet Soubrette? One part circus performer, one part poet, and third part rockstar...a Sweet Soubrette show is like badass adult story time."
-CultureMob ("Sweet Soubrette Seduces Audience at Bowery Poetry Club")
-CultureMob ("Sweet Soubrette Seduces Audience at Bowery Poetry Club")
"Dark vaudeville-pop...sensational."
-Philadelphia Inquirer
-Philadelphia Inquirer
"What's better than a ukulele band backed by a horn section? Nothing. Not a thing."
-The Brooklyn Paper
-The Brooklyn Paper
"Take Amanda Palmer covering Radiohead and then take Phoebe Legere and drain out the jazz and replace it with Jenny Lewis circa The Execution Of All Things and then throw on some fishnet stockings and you have Sweet Soubrette...this time she has a full band and the songs have texture and beauty."
-Rock NYC
-Rock NYC
"This is a band that intuitively knows not just how to attract an audience, but also how to keep them there."
-Worcester Magazine ("Indie Rock Meets Cabaret")
-Worcester Magazine ("Indie Rock Meets Cabaret")
"Wry, unapologetic, sassy and flirty torch songs and ballads."
-On the Scene
-On the Scene
"Brooklyn's fishnet-clad femme fatale."
-Bust
-Bust
"Worth seeing & hearing."
-FEMMUSIC (Artist of the Month, March 2011)
-FEMMUSIC (Artist of the Month, March 2011)
"At once sweet and sassy, celebrating reckless behavior with a charmed wink."
-Time Out NY
-Time Out NY
"A gal, her ukulele, her band and a batch of dark, edgy love songs."
-Nippertown
-Nippertown
"Her vocal sound is reminiscent of contemporaries Regina Spektor, Ingrid Michaelson, and Nicole Atkins, but has more of a distinctive steampunk style...her new tunes on Days and Nights have moments of charismatic joy and sultry delight."
-CultureMob ("Sweet Soubrette to Play The Bowery Poetry Club")
-CultureMob ("Sweet Soubrette to Play The Bowery Poetry Club")
"Almost impossible to stop replaying in one's head after hearing...she certainly has something unique to offer and is someone to keep an eye on."
-The Deli
-The Deli
"Don't let the 'sweet' in the soubrette's sobriquet fool you. Her comic love songs are dark and biting."
-Chelsea Now
-Chelsea Now
"[Sweet Soubrette] sings dark and slightly morbid love songs...their song 'City People' felt a little too close to home, but I think that is the point of most of their music, to walk on the edge of too personal."
-Lessons of a New Yorker
-Lessons of a New Yorker
"Poetic lyrics and a nostalgic indie style, with vocals that waver between song and spoken word."
-am New York
-am New York
"Sincere artistic talent...as invigorating as ocean spray."
-Knocks from the Underground
-Knocks from the Underground
"The world of Sweet Soubrette is there, recognizable, compelling from the first track, "All That Glitters," to the last, the very lovely "Snow White & Rose Red"...a world of melodies and rhythms that requires several listens to fully appreciate the subtlety and sensitivity of this artist."
-Popa Ti-Ge (French translation)
-Popa Ti-Ge (French translation)
"Tender then venomous, audacious then introspective, but never apologetic...an honest woman of our generation, singing lyrics that remain confident in their unwillingness to be watered down or glammed up."
-Knocks from the Underground, "Women Who Rock the Underground, Volume 4"
-Knocks from the Underground, "Women Who Rock the Underground, Volume 4"
"Alternately (and often simultaneously) vulnerable and seductive...her lyrics...range from wry and smart to disarmingly poignant."
-Brooklyn Roads
-Brooklyn Roads
"Wry, unapologetic, sassy and flirty...the perfect balance of passion and deadpan...the audience absolutely adores it."
-Phrequency
-Phrequency
"Sweet Soubrette...sings beguilingly of love....with great spirit and sass. It's a short but sweet album, leaving the listener wanting much more."
-Collected Sounds on Siren Song
-Collected Sounds on Siren Song
"Funny, occasionally bawdy, occasionally deep songs of doomed romance. The beauty and sincerity of her voice transcended...mere curiosity...a moving performance."
-The Morning Call (Allentown,PA)
-The Morning Call (Allentown,PA)
"A Sweet Soubrette performance is not just a concert, it's almost a theatrical act...much of the success of this unusual musician's songs is due to her expressiveness and her interpretive gift, which allow her to communicate even in front of an audience that speaks English only a little, and badly."
-Sound36 (Italian translation)
-Sound36 (Italian translation)
"Her contribution to the genre is decided, refreshing and unpretentious...if you are looking for shadows where broken hearts go to console themselves, this CD is absolutely for you...with a warning for the lovesick: This balm can be fatal."
-Diario teatrale (e non solo) (Italian translation)
-Diario teatrale (e non solo) (Italian translation)
"Lead singer Ellia Bisker's soft voice over the twangy sound of her ukulele and the bird-like bell sounds of Mike Dobson's glockenspiel tells of the humble bees' role in preserving the power of the British Empire."
-NPR's Science Friday
-NPR's Science Friday
"Enchanting our audience with seductively simple melodies and clever lyrics...her stage presence filled the large auditorium with ease."
-Artistic Director, Berkshire Fringe Festival
-Artistic Director, Berkshire Fringe Festival
"Great and beautiful and funky and nice and light and deep and...perfect altogether."
-Director, Extremely Hungary Festival
-Director, Extremely Hungary Festival
