Sibylle Baier is a German folk singer and actress, whose musical abilities achieved belated recognition with the 2006 release of the album Colour Green, compiled from songs she had recorded in the early 1970s. Her music is known for its plainness, emotional sincerity, and reference to mundane life in a folk style that’s been compared to the works of Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake.
Having played the guitar and piano as a young girl, she was moved to write her first song, “Remember The Day”, after taking a road trip with a friend across the Alps to Genoa, via Strasbourg. She appeared in Wim Wenders’ 1973 film Alice in the Cities, and her music is also featured in Jochen Richter’s Umarmungen und andere Sachen (1975) and in Wenders’ Palermo Shooting (2008). Baier opted not to pursue an acting or singing career, and eventually moved to the United States, where she concentrated on bringing up a family.
The songs that made up her album Colour Green were home reel to reel tape recordings Baier had made in Germany between 1970 and 1973. Some 30 years later, her son Robby compiled a CD from these recordings to give to family members as presents. He also gave a copy to Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis, who in turn passed it along to the Orange Twin label. Orange Twin released the album in February 2006.
In April 2008, it was revealed through her official website that Baier was going into a recording studio and had written two new songs. The first of these, “Let Us Know”, was released in September 2008 for the film Palermo Shooting.
