Violin Ensemble Toronto

6/23: Thao & Mirah and Led to Sea @ GAMH

Led to Sea is the solo project of Seattle-based violist Alex Guy. After spending the last five years touring as violist with the likes of Mirah, Laura Veirs, Thao Nguyen, the Degenerate Art Ensemble and Jason Webley, and playing violin/viola on the albums of Xiu Xiu, the Pharmacy, The Dead Science and Parenthetical Girls, Alex recorded her own album, Into the Darkening Sky . The album contains a solid mix of thick orchestral moments and stripped-down songs featuring just viola and voice.

We caught up with Alex to discuss music, movies, touring, recording, and, of course, her favorite things about San Francisco.

Introduce yourself!

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and still make Seattle my home. I've been playing viola and violin ever since I was a hyper little kid with a penchant for loud noises and being a ham. The last 10 or so years I've played with a really wide variety of bands and musicians, including Laura Veirs, Mirah and Thao, Jason Webley, the Degenerate Art Ensemble (a punk, experimental groove orchestra) and Wise Fool, an amazing activist circus in New Mexico. I've been touring solo as Led to Sea for about four years, opening for most of the folks listed above, as well as striking out on some underground tours on my own.

Describe your sound in five words or less.

Lush asymmetrical viola indie-pop.

Who/what are some of your biggest influences?

Who: Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Edith Piaf, Joni Mitchell, Iva Bittova, (an incredible violist from the Czech Republic), Nick Drake. What: All the classical music I played growing up, especially more modern composers like Bartok and Shostakovich, Arvo Part. Five years working with the Degenerates also had a huge influence on me. The group helped me bring together all my influences into my songwriting, and some of that crew have become my closest friends and collaborators. And also Jolie Rickman, a songwriter, activist, and fearless pursuer of dreams.

What are other bands should people be listening to?

Nina Simone, Polka Dot Dot, Des Ark, Faun Fables, Kaki King, Jolie Holland.

Favorite lyrics of all time?

Let's see. I usually tend to get really taken by the melodies and rhythm of songs, and can totally forget about lyrics entirely. So, to answer your question, I'll think about songs that I just start singing without realizing, while I'm biking around, etc.

Bollywood Monster Mash-Up comes to Mississauga's Celebration ...

The concert, presented by the City of Mississauga and produced by FatLabs, is entitled Bollywood Monster Mash-Up. It features more than 50 singers, dancers and musicians, according to the organizers. “Throughout the evening, you’ll hear popular songs spanning the black and white era of Indian Cinema to the modern hits of Bollywood.  But you’ll hear them in ways you wouldn’t expect,” they promise.

“From electronic remixes to rock remakes to symphonic renditions, this is a show that has never been done before,” says music composer and producer Vikas Kholi of FatLabs. “It’s great to have international talent straight from Bollywood integrated in a show with our homegrown talent.”

Here are some of the highlights: What would it be like if the legendary singers of Bollywood film had Pentium processors?  You’ll find out when French-Canadian electronic artist The Alphabet Backwards works his magic on classic songs by Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bosle by throwing them into an original high-energy dance set.  He will also be joined on stage by South Indian Classical violinist Subhadra Vijaykumar and mridangam player Sriram Suryanarayan.

Creative Canada, a biographical dictionary of twentieth-century creative and performing artists

Violin For Dummies

Who's who in music in California

International who's who in music and musicians' directory, (in the classical and light classical fields)

Toronto Colourguide