The Vivian Sisters are Laura Cromwell and Jamie Saft, playing lap steel, drums, percussion, Kalimba, guitars, keyboards, bass, vocal cords and … Their music might fall under the category Neuve Invention, a term coined by the artist Jean Dubuffet to describe artists he saw as “occupying the creative hinterland between Art Brut and professional art”. Their music has a raw, jagged beauty akin to Ayler or the Shaggs; but really all their own.

Born and raised in NYC’s East Village, Laura Cromwell started playing drums in 1991, inspired by her encounters with Riot Grrls and west coast post-punks in the fertile San Francisco music scene. Self-taught, she was a core member of feminist pop-punk trio Growing Up Skipper. Laura founded instrumental avant-rock bands Dim Sum Clip Job and The Vivian Sisters (both have releases on Avant), and received a commission from Roulette and the Jerome Foundation for her 1999 work “Burning.” She has performed and recorded with God Is My Co-Pilot, Cibo Matto, Buffalo Daughter, Takako Minnekawa, Enya, The Shaggs, and many others. –Bio as of 2019