Get ready to be hypnotized and won over by Australian chanteuse Tania Bowers aka Via Tania. I've been listening to her latest record Moon Sweet Moon and, slowly but surely, I'm hooked. Not to say that I didn't like it on first listen -- it's the type of music you know is good instantly -- but the more I've listened, the more I love it.

Born in Australia to South African parents, she began playing with her sister Kim in vowel-free, noise-pop outfit SPDFGH around Sydney in the early Nineties, opening for the likes of The Breeders and Bikini Kill even before she was legally allowed to drink.

Post SPDFGH she worked on a spare, thoughtful self–released EP under the name Sunday. Relocating to Chicago at the end of the Nineties she set about piecing together an album as Via Tania, with producer Casey Rice and various Chicago musical luminaries, with a focus on production, electronics and sound, and the songs acting as vessel for said sounds. The album Under A Different Sky was released in 2004 to acclaim, on the Chicago based label, Chocolate Industries.

Her sophomore release, Moon Sweet Moon sees a change in direction for Via Tania, dictated from the very seeds of the songs upwards. "I was remembering my first ideas, and ideals, of songwriting from my teens," explains Tania. "I wasn't thinking about production or any aesthetic for the recordings, I was writing more like I used to when I was a kid, listening to Suzanne Vega."

Read Tania's full bio on her official site and check out her discography for a list of all her records, including Moon Sweet Moon, which isn't out in the US yet and, according to the latest news from Tania, she's going to Austin to record a few new tracks for the US release this Fall. You know it's going to be good.

I hope I won't get in trouble for doing this, but here's a track to download from Moon Sweet Moon called The Beginning. You can also listen to more on her MySpace, but you really want to get your hands on a copy of Moon Sweet Moon. It's amazing.