ABOUT MARSHWEED ENSEMBLE
Marshweed Ensemble is the music of Los Angeles-based performer-composer Heather Lockie.
Lockie draws from whatever soundmaking devices are at hand: a string trio, close vocal harmonies, a penny whistle, a live-processed field recording, an oven rack, a folk song, a bell. Together, Marshweed Ensemble weaves sonic tapestries ranging from aggro-noise sound painting to folk Americana ballad to doomy chanting, back to ballad, onward to atonal pop-culture-referencing chant, sometimes ending at the beach. Live, this group presents a bewildering and engaging show.
Marshwah Ensemble revolving cast includes: Jess Basta (vocals, percussion), Clay Chaplin (synths, processing, samples, drum processing), Emily Elkin (cello, vocals, percussion), Eric KM Clark (violin, vocals, percussion), Tany Ling (vocals, percussion), Heather Lockie (vocals, viola, banjo), Lyman Chaffee (guitar, vocals), Shawn Lockie (vocals, percussion), Max Kutner (guitar), Laura Steenberge (vocals, bass, percussion), KCM Walker (drums, percussion).
ABOUT HEATHER LOCKIE
Lockie writes songs and records with viola, violin, and piano, plays with and writes string arrangements for herself and others. She runs a private music studio in NELA and works with a child orchestra program in Pasadena. She has a BA (Comparative Literature) from Occidental College and an MA (Performer/Composer) from California Institute of the Arts.
Lockie has released her own music with past projects Listing Ship and Leather Hyman as well as writing string arranging/playing with international artists including Ty Segall, John Dwyer (OCS), Cory Hanson, OCS, Mikal Cronin, Fun., Spiritualized, Scott Wieland (STP), Arthur Lee/LOVE, Eels, and various independent bands. She has performed in a wide variety of venues, from The Royal Albert Hall in London to the late night tv circuit to various DIY spaces throughout the world. Residencies include Centrum (Pt. Townsend WA), ISLAND songwriting residency (E. Jordan MI), STEIM (Amsterdam), PACT-ZOLLVEREIN (Essen, DE).
Compositionally, Lockie's painting background has led her to broad experimentation with making and enacting her own graphic scores. In June 2018 Lockie premiered a graphic composition for seven female vocalists called "Song to be Performed in a Tunnel in Your Town" for the Dog Star Music Festival in Los Angeles. This performance, New Yorker music critic Alex Ross wrote, "...felt like an emanation from the California of the nineteen-twenties, when spiritual seekers settled in towns like Ojai and tried to start anew. The cynic in me found the vision hokey; the dreamer in me would have liked to disappear with them."
Current projects include experimental duo Spiders with Kalashnikovs, Greek folk band Galamatas, playing viola on an improv album for Castle Face Records with John Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees) and Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio). She has written and recorded string arrangements for various albums for artists such as Wand, OCS/Thee Oh Sees, Cory Hanson, Lisa Papineau, David Kendricks (Sparks/DEVO), others. With her partner Clay Chaplin, Lockie co-produces ongoing house concerts at Casa Berenice Recordings in Los Angeles.
