Anna-Lynne Williams, better known by her stage name Lotte Kestner, is an American singer-songwriter based in Seattle, Washington. She started her musical career as vocalist for the indie rock bandTrespassers William in 1997. She adopted the stage name Lotte Kestner in 2007 for solo recordings. She was also a member of the duo Ormonde.
Career
Williams grew up in Laguna Hills, California, and now lives in Seattle. She is featured on "Hold Tight London" from the Chemical Brothers' 2005 Grammy-winning album, Push the Button. She has collaborated with numerous other artists, including Courtney Marie Andrews, Robert Deeble, Damien Jurado, Motopony and Rocky Votolato, Arnar Guðjónsson of Leaves, Delerium, Minotaur Shock, Tuesday the Sky, Fieldhead, Sadistik and Blue Sky Black Death. In 2007, Williams started recording her own music as Lotte Kestner, self-releasing China Mountain in 2008. She followed it in 2011 with a covers album, Stolen. In 2013, she was back with more of her own material on The Bluebird of Happiness, for which she wrote all but one track. An 8-track EP titled Until was released through Saint-Loup Records on April 16, 2013. A collection of covers called "Covers" was released in 2017 in Japan and Korea. Her latest album, Off White, was released on Saint Marie Records on September 1, 2017. It was preceded the previous month by a Chris Cunningham-directed music video for "Ghosts". In addition to these offerings, Williams has released four download-only collections, generally combining demos, outtakes, and newly recorded material: China Mountain B-Sides, Trespassers William Songs Solo, All That You Start B-Sides, Extra Covers Collection and Best-of: Requested Cover Songs . Williams contributed the song "Confession" to the Saint Marie Records sampler Static Waves. Her cover of Beyoncé's "Halo" was prominently featured in an episode of HBO's The Young Pope in 2017. She contributed an original composition titled called "In Glass" to the indie filmMaybe Someday. Williams has published three books of poetry, Split Infinitive, In the NightI Go Sailing, and Blind Accidents, and has recorded two albums with her indie band Ormonde. She starred in the film I Cannot Go On As I Am, which came out in 2015 and which also contains live musical performances.
