In 2004, Juliette Lewis the punk rocker emerged with a bang. Now she's being reborn as a musical force in the studio as well as onstage. After four years, two full-length albums and countless high-profile tours and festival gigs alongside acts like the Killers, Foo Fighters, Muse and Chris Cornell with her roaring rock road show the Licks, Lewis is ready to unveil her new solo project.

With the Licks, Lewis put out the 2004 EP …Like a Bolt of Lightning, which was followed by the full-length You're Speaking My Language. By the time 2006's Four on the Floor was released, the Licks had mounted their international assault, touring the world and rocking fests like Iceland Airwaves and the U.K.'s prestigious V Festival and Leeds & Reading as well as Lollapalooza. And Juliette's time on the road is far from over: tour dates will be announced shortly after the release of her solo debut album: Terra Incognita.

It was during a grueling two-year tour for Four on the Floor, that the singer-actress began craving a fresh sound where guitars would provide atmospheric glow rather than chugging rhythms, and melodies could be haunting and dynamic. "I was hiding behind the bombast and rhythm guitar, riffs and hooks," she says. "So it took five years to cut my teeth and really develop as a musical force and songwriter and gain the courage to now let my voice roar and emote." After meeting the Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez-Lopez at Japan's Fugi Rock Festival, the two chatted about collaborating. The pair quickly bonded over Fellini movies and the relationship between drama and music. "I was on a search for a producer who could unearth and interpret my musical identity and venture into the unknown with me," she says. Lewis visited Rodriguez-Lopez at his Brooklyn, New York studio, bringing along cassettes of songs she'd roughly recorded on a piano at home... Full Bio