"A very unique melodic quality... hauntingly beautiful."
--Daryn Henry

(Click here for the Unofficial Bio.)

Listening to Dawn Xiana Moon is like reading a piece of her soul; honest, searching lyrics are matched by passion in performance. The singer-songwriter shines in the Midwest folk circuit, her intuition mature beyond her years, her skill the fruit of early classical training. It is her powerful vocals that first demand attention with an ease reminiscent of Over the Rhine, a flexibility uniquely hers. Underscored by poetic literacy, she synthesizes inspiration from a diversity of musical styles into melodic folk pop.

The Chinese-American was born in Singapore and began studying classical piano at the age of five, the same year her family moved to the United States. While in high school, she earned prizes for piano, flute, and voice in regional competitions. But it was Dawn's first year at the University of Michigan, where she studied English literature and theatre, that shifted her musical paradigm: she broke out of her mold and began to play the guitar. "It was like anarchy," she says. "For the first time in my life, I wasn't taking lessons or reading music." Two months later, she was writing songs.

From those beginnings, her musical career blossomed. In 2005, she began touring extensively and has since traveled throughout the Midwest and East Coast. She is a natural performer, refined by years of training as an actress; concerts feel intimate, laughter is common, and listeners become friends. Variety is her spice, with songs on subjects ranging from Star Trek to failure, from broken relationships to God. Her introspective piano has been likened to Sarah McLachlan, the upbeat guitar to Joni Mitchell.

Dawn's debut, an EP entitled First Verse, was an entirely self-financed labor of love. She immersed herself in all aspects of the creative process, co-producing and mixing the record with Rich Blatt from Third Rail Productions and designing the much-praised artwork, which features a few pieces of her photography, herself. A handful of other talented musicians also make appearances on the CD, augmenting her vocals and playing with strings, bass, vocals, and percussion. She is currently at work on her first full-length album.

As Michigan singer-songwriter Bea Furman put it, "Go the next time you hear she's performing anywhere.... Beautiful music, using a wide variety of styles and layering that showed off her lyrics and simple melodies."