"Sophie Auster was a freshman at Sarah Lawrence College, in New York, when she recorded her first album-a self-titled compilation of sexy, soulful songs inspired by the French surrealist poems that her father, the author Paul Auster, had translated into English early in his career. Conceived as a pet project, Sophie's record ended up being released on a French label, turning the Brooklyn native, whose mother is the novelist Siri Hustvedt, into a budding star by graduation day. It was then that her father offered some lasting advice. "He said, Make sure you write every day, and write as many songs as you can," recalls Auster, 27. Her latest album, Dogs and Men, is culled from the abundant material she has produced since then. The opening track, "Bad Manners", a spiteful torch song, was inspired by a recent relationship that went south. "A Dream About Jack" is a soaring folk track about her childhood dog and the strange visions she's had of him".
