(photo by Matthew Spencer)

Alina Simone is one of our favorite solo artists playing today. Here’s the brief bio from her website:

I was born in Kharkov, Ukraine and grew up in Massachusetts. My songs are about places where nothing and everything seems to happen — pawn shops, access roads, malls, gas stations — and all the gorgeous, impossible, possibilities that other people can bring into your life. Yes, I know it’s kind of raw and messy.

We’ll just add that she was, once upon a time, the lead singer of Emma La Reina, a favorite band of ours whose members have since gone on to various interesting and impressive projects. She moved to North Carolina a couple of years back and is currently embarking on a rather impressive tour of the US and Canada. We hear she’ll soon be moving back to New York, so you should go check her out tonight at Cake Shop to get a taste of what you’ll be in for once she does.

And it doesn’t hurt that former ELR bandmate and all around superb guitarist, Chris Barrey, will be accompanying her tonight — he’ll be playing with her for part of the tour, as well.