Toni Halliday is Chatelaine

Once releasing the The Way of Curve double-disc retrospective, Curve frontwoman Toni Halliday announced January 31, 2005 via the band's website that she was leaving the band she and musician Dean Garcia founded in 1990. For longtime fans, it wasn't exactly a huge surprise; Halliday had expressed her dismay with Curve's creative direction in years prior. But the London-bred duo's debut, Doppelgänger, remains an epic piece in my alternative rock collection, and songs like "Pink Girl with the Blues," "Horror Head" and "On the Wheel" are classics.

Since leaving Curve, Halliday went on to collaborate with Paul Van Dyk, Recoil (Depeche Mode's Alan Wilder) and most recently, the Killers. Halliday contributed vocals to the band's holiday charity single "A Great Big Sled."

Good news: Halliday is back with a new project, Chatelaine. Described as "ramped up Enya" on MySpace, Chatelaine is a bit more organic compared to Curve's guitar-driven dance rock sound, yet there's a majestic mystery surrounding new tunes like the stormy, string-laden "Stripped Out." Two other emotionally-charged songs, "Oh Daddy" and "Killing the Feeling," are also posted via the band's MySpace page. A full-length LP is slated for later this year.