Ava Brennan is an experimental folk-rock musician born and raised in Chicago, Illinois.

Inspired by string players like Johanna Newson and Nick Drake, as well as experimental artists like Esperanza Spaulding and Laurie Anderson, she combines complex finger style guitar with progressive rhythms and unique song structure. “At once lush and rhythmically driving, Chicago songwriter Ava Brennan’s insistent melodies and earnest delivery weave a whole world of dynamics.” (Old Town School)

Thematically, her songs meditate on intimacy, communion with nature, resisting fascism and recovering from chronic pain. “What Brennan does so well is build up a space of her own, a secret hideout… where each bit of wall is prime real estate for the most epic personalization and encouraged discovery that life has to offer.” (The Ugly Hug)

Her full band features Fiona Palensky on drums, Meredith Nesbitt on bass, and Seth Lauver on marimba.