Selis Wants To Be 'known'

Indie film "Song of Songs" is starting to garner notice—and so is San Diego-based singer/songwriter Eve Selis.

Selis, whose current album, "Do You Know Me," is on Nashville-based Hippie Chick Twang Records, wrote and performed the tunes that provide a musical foundation for the Echelon Films-distributed romantic comedy. The movie, directed by Tobin Smith, recently won best international film at the New York International Film and Video Festival. Its producer/writer, Don Teague, signed Selis after spotting her at the 2000 San Diego Music Awards.

"She performed live, and I was blown away," says Teague, who thought of Selis during preproduction. "The lead character in the film is a musician, so we needed music and a voice to establish her in a few scenes. [Selis'] music fit the mood and the spirit of the film so well that it became like a character itself. In several places, we use it to advance the story without a word being spoken."

"Show Me What Love Is," which Selis co-wrote with longtime collaborator Marc Intravaia for her 1998 album "Out on a Wire," is the key song of "Song of Songs." It's heard three times during the film, and according to Selis is also being used in an upcoming movie, "Extreme Close-Up."

Selis, who recently won best Americana artist at the San Diego Music Awards, now hopes her cinema exposure will focus attention on her audio catalog, which includes three solo albums and three preceding recordings with her previous rock group, Kings Road.

A video for the new album's title track is being serviced.

The album was produced by Kim Patton-Johnston and is receiving positive reviews for the SESAC writer, whose Lemonade and Whiskey publishing company was named after the way one critic described her voice.

Selis met Patton-Johnston—owner of Hippie Chick Twang Records and a songwriter who has been recorded by Trisha Yearwood, Tim McGraw and Lee Ann Womack—in 2001 at a songwriters' night in Nashville's Printer's Alley.

"Our music is definitely based on rock, but it has a lot of country feel to it," Selis says of the collaboration, which is gaining an international foothold via her Internet presence. "I get e-mails from all over the world, and people are buying my CDs in Europe and Russia. My motto is 'Taking over the world, one person at a time': It will be a long time, but it's happening."

The album has been picked up for distribution in the U.K. by Proper Music.

To keep the momentum, Selis relies on a busy tour schedule. "We do about 150 dates a year," the self-booked and -managed artist says.

Selis has also just released a DVD that includes four songs recorded live at her album-release party, as well as the new "Do You Know Me" video.