Like many queer women, Nicole Schneit is a warrior by necessity, fighting for basic rights, dignity, and acceptance.

Such determination in the face of hardship and injustice runs in Schneit's family; her new album was inspired in part by her mom who was diagnosed with fallopian cancer last year.

As she explains, "The doctor told her she had a fifteen to twenty percent chance, and her response was 'I'm going to get this mother fucker.' So the title Warrior and the song are about her.

After chemotherapy, surgery, and then more chemotherapy, all the cancer in her body has left and she's currently in remission.

I feel like most of the people in my life, including myself, are warriors and have overcome obstacles that seemed impossible to defeat." Understated, subtly sophisticated, and equally empowering and comforting, Warrior launches Air Waves above the apolitical complacency of too many of the group's contemporaries.

Schneit proudly declares her mission statement: "I wan t these songs to be heard by people in my queer community, but also by anyone that wants to feels strong, powerful, and included."