4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today. It now forms part of the Beggars Group, along with Matador Records, Rough Trade Records and XL Recordings.

4AD current recording artists include Ariel Pink, The Big Pink, Blonde Redhead, Bon Iver, Camera Obscura, Deerhunter, Gang Gang Dance, The National, Scott Walker, St. Vincent, Twin Shadow, and tUnE-yArDs.

Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, employees of the Beggars Banquet record store and label, founded Axis Records in late 1979 as a property of Beggars Banquet that was run by the two. After the first four Axis singles in early 1980, the name was changed to 4AD when it became apparent that the name Axis was already being used by another music company. The solution to this problem came from a promotional flyer that they had printed up to call attention to the new releases. The flyer's designer had added some typography which played on both the new year and the idea of progress:

Anni Rossi is an American singer, violist and keyboardist from Minnesota. She graduated for the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Golden Valley. She is notable for her unique style of playing the viola and singing, often at the same time, although her solo records also incorporate elements of electronic music.

Her debut EP Afton, a six track affair consisting of previously released tracks, including 7" single "Wheelpusher", initially released via Too Pure and MySpace previews, was released in October 2008 through 4AD Records. The majority of Afton was recorded at Bomb Shelter Studios, in Los Angeles by Ben Tierney in February, 2006.

Rossi recorded her mini-album, entitled Rockwell with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago. The album was released in March 2009 through 4AD Records. An appearance at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival and a west coast tour followed in late winter/early spring of 2009. In 2009, she also toured with Camera Obscura, the Ting Tings (2008) and Headlights.

Lisa Gerrard (born 12 April 1961) is an Australian musician, singer, and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with former music partner Brendan Perry.

Since her career began in 1981, she has been involved in a wide range of projects. Gerrard received a Golden Globe Award for the music score to the film Gladiator, on which she collaborated with Hans Zimmer. In addition to singing, she is an instrumentalist for much of her work, most prolifically using the yangqin (a Chinese hammered dulcimer).

Lisa Gerrard was born 12 April 1961 in Melbourne and grew up in the suburb of Prahran with her Irish immigrant parents. On her upbringing, she has said she grew up with "Mediterranean music blaring out of the houses" and that this influenced her music, particularly on later Dead Can Dance albums and in her solo and collaborative works.

Gerrard's first foray into forming bands and creative music-making was the highly experimental Little Band scene. It was at one of these little band events that she first met Dead Can Dance cofounder Brendan Perry. Perry recalls, "It never occurred to me that we would one day collaborate musically together because at the time I thought her music was too avant garde. I particularly remember one song that she sang about finding a man in the park and asking her mother if she could bring him home to keep in her wardrobe as she attacked this chinese dulcimer with two bamboo sticks."

Pieter Bourke is an Australian composer, keyboardist, percussionist and audio engineer. He has recorded several projects with ex-Dead Can Dance founding member Lisa Gerrard, and was a touring member of Dead Can Dance's 1996 Spiritchaser tour. He also collaborated with Australian musician David Thrussell (alias Black Lung), first as part of the latter's band Snog, then just the two of them under the project name Soma. More recently, he formed the Dub Reggae outift Secret Masters with fellow Australian Brian Westbrook. Bourke and Gerrard received two shared Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Score, in 2000 for The Insider (1999), and in 2002 for Ali (2001).

Pieter Bourke began his career in 1988 with the Australian band Eden. Consisting of Sean Bowley (vocals, guitar), Ross Healy (bass) and Bourke (keyboards, rhythm programming and percussion), Eden performed regularly in Melbourne’s alternative scene beginning in 1988. The Light Between Worlds EP was released in 1989 on the Scottish label Nightshift Records. This was supported by the release of a 7” single, Searching For Angels Hands, which broadened Eden’s audience in Australia through a performance on the national music television programme Countdown Revolution.

Twin Shadow is the stage name of American musician George Lewis Jr.

Lewis was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Florida. Around 2000, he moved to Boston and started the band Mad Man Films alongside Joseph Ciampini (drums) (of Hooray For Earth), and Zak Longo (bass) of Before Lazers. Mad Man Films released two records independently. Around 2006, Lewis relocated to Brooklyn, NY and adopted the Twin Shadow moniker. In 2010 he released his debut album Forget, produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear. The album has been described as "steeped in 1980s new wave", "building from streaks of haunting synth textures", having "sophisticated melodies", "R&B intimacy", and "poetic lyrics", and "hazily new wave-tinged pop". Twin Shadow was the Rolling Stone 'Band of the Week' on October 7, 2010.

Twin Shadow played Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2011, Sasquatch Music Festival in May 2011, San Miguel Primavera Sound in May 2011 and both Pitchfork Music Festival and Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in June 2011. He supported Florence and the Machine at certain performances during their 2011 U.S. Tour.