Rio en Medio | |
---|---|
Origin | Brooklyn, New York City, United States |
Genres |
New Weird America Freak folk |
Labels | Gnomonsong, Manimal Vinyl, Womens Work Recordings |
Website | www |
Members | Danielle Stech-Homsy |
Notable instruments | |
vocals, ukulele |
Rio en Medio (Spanish for river in between) is the pseudonym of singer and baritone ukulelist Danielle Stech-Homsy.
Born in the US state of New Mexico, Stech-Homsy later made Brooklyn her home and there began to record and perform her own compositions. Working independently and in secret, she first created The Bride of Dynamite, a collection of collage-like songs incorporating found sounds and electronic programming, lifting texts from disparate sources, and evoking traditional-folk song structure, themes and melodies. As chance would have it, a friend passed on the unique, hand-made record to Devendra Banhart who soon requested to release it on his label (Gnomonsong). Since her debut release in early 2007, Stech-Homsye has performed on stages across the US and abroad in Europe and the UK. She has worked with many artists; to name a few: Grizzly Bear, CocoRosie, Brightblack Morning Light, Vetiver, Patrick Wolf, Vashti Bunyan, Tim Fite and Devendra Banhart. In 2007, she did a Take-Away Show acoustic video session shot by Vincent Moon.
Rio en Medio's music is described as delicate and fragmented songs featuring a minimal trio of baritone ukulele, subtly harmonized vocals and electronic or sampled soundscapes, evoking the spun poetry of ancient folk lullabies, but not without a hint at the darker side of today's cultural climate.
Danielle cites traditional musical styles including tropicalia, Russian, Spanish, American and English folk music, and musicians as diverse as Paul Horn and Mary McCaslin as influences.