The five years since Brenda Xu released her debut full-length album "A Little Illusion" have been filled with considerable change, all of which is apparent in her new record "For The Winter". After receiving numerous accolades for the debut, including a nomination for "Best Acoustic Artist" in the San Diego Music Awards, Brenda relocated to Seattle and took an indefinite hiatus from music, focusing on navigating her way through a new city and finding her place in the Seattle music scene.

Slowly, the pieces fell into place: she became friends with Seattle-based producer Don Farwell and began forming a band to support her new songs. The years between Xu's debut and her newest release, "For The Winter", are immediately apparent. Not only has her ability as a lyricist grown far beyond her years, but sonically, the album is a noted departure from her past singer-songwriter career, and instead treads the delicate line between washed-out ambient tones and carefully crafted acoustic arrangements.

"For The Winter" will transport any listener through a range of seasons and emotions, while reminding us that for every season's waxings and wanings, they all share one commonality: that they will eventually come again. Summer will continue to be followed by autumn, and winter by spring. As for Brenda Xu, she's leaving an unusually long winter behind and turning the leaf into her second spring.