About

“Artemisia” is:

a) A large plant genus including many with special properties like mugwort, wormwood, and coastal sagebrush–aka “cowboy cologne”

b) The first name of Artemisia Gentlischi, one of the few female Italian Baroque painters, known for her depictions of women as antagonists in the Biblical and mythic images she painted, rather than the passive way her male contemporaries portrayed them.

c) A music project first formed by Selene Ross in the hills above Berkeley in 2018, inspired by Appalachian folk harmonies, 80’s synth soundtracks, and ghosts. Featuring Selene on vocals, autoharp, ukulele, dulcimer, and guitar, and Alisa Rose on vocals and harp. Made complete in 2021 by the magic of Ariel Wang on violin.

d) All of the above.

In the summer of 2022 Artemisia recorded their first full-length album, Catastrophe Darling, with Maryam Qudus (Spacemoth) at Tiny Telephone Recording in Oakland. If the EP was Artemisia's first chapter, this album is the expanded cinematic universe. The same shimmering, eerie, ghostfolk sound is still very much there, but with the addition of a string quartet they branch out into soaring cinematic ballads, dreamy witchpop dance tracks, and spin back around into vintage lullabies.