Thorn began her musical career in the punk-pop hybrid group Stern Bops playing guitar and providing some vocal backing.

Thorn met Ben Watt at the University of Hull where they were both students, and both signed as solo artists to Cherry Red Records.

A re-recorded version of the track "Plain Sailing" was released as a single, and was included on the Pillows & Prayers Cherry Red records compilation album.

In the 1990s, she collaborated with Massive Attack on several projects, including the soundtrack for the motion picture Batman Forever where she contributed with "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game".

She also sang "The Tree Knows Everything" on Adam F's debut album Colours and "Over the Rainbow" on James McMillan's 1993 Japan-only release Makin' Changes.

[6] Just prior to her return to recording in 2007, Thorn contributed vocals to the song "Damage" by the band Tiefschwarz on the album Eat Books.

The first single from the album, "It's All True", accompanied by remixes from the likes of Kris Menace & Martin Buttrich, was released on 7 February and reached No.

In 2008, Thorn collaborated with the Hungarian acoustic downtempo group The Unbending Trees on their single "Overture", which also featured on their album Chemically Happy (Is The New Sad), released by her partner Ben Watt.

Recorded in London and Berlin and produced by Ewan Pearson, it contained eight new songs and two cover versions, "Come on Home to Me" by Lee Hazlewood, and "You Are a Lover" by The Unbending Trees.

It was released in late October 2012, and included covers of songs by Carol Hall, The White Stripes, Ron Sexsmith, Randy Newman, Joni Mitchell, Sufjan Stevens, Low and Scritti Politti, plus two original songs and contributions from Green Gartside and Ben Watt.

The album was produced by Ewan Pearson, and features contributions from Corinne Bailey Rae, Shura, Jona Ma and Stella and Jenny from Warpaint.

[17] 2021 saw the publication of a fourth book, My Rock 'n' Roll Friend, focused on her friendship with Lindy Morrison of the Go-Betweens, and on the experiences of female musicians in the male-dominated music scene.