Rio en Medio

Infobox musical artist
Name = Rio en Medio
Landscape =
Background = group_or_band
Alias =
Origin = Brooklyn, New York City, USA
Genre = New Weird America
Freak folk
Years_active =
Label = Gnomonsong, Manimal Vinyl
Associated_acts =
URL =
Current_members = Danielle Stech-Homsy
Past_members =
Notable_instruments = vocals, ukelele

Rio en Medio (Spanish for "river in between") is the pseudonym of singer and baritone ukulelist Danielle Stech-Homsy.

Background

Born in the high desert of New Mexico, Danielle 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, Danielle has performed on stages across the US and abroad in Europe and the UK. She has worked with many well-regarded artists; to name a few – Grizzly Bear, CocoRosie, Brightblack Morning Light, Vetiver, Patrick Wolf, Vashti Bunyan, Tim Fite and Devendra Banhart.

Musical style

Rio en Medio's music is described as delicate and fragmented songs featuring a sparse and haunting 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 Bob Dylan and Beth Gibbons as influences.

On stage, Rio en Medio has been represented by a range of musical and visual guests and collaborators, between them are Justin Riddle (drums), Christian Lee (guitar), Nicholas Toll (keyboards and percussion), Justin Hartery (video), Cohdi Harrell (aerialist) and most recently the sound and visual artist Vlad Kromatika.

Future plans

Rio en Medio's upcoming album, entitled "Frontier", was written in the snowy solitude of the woods. Its subject imagines an awakening and an evolution through human spiritedness, the raw choosing of life in the face of wonders, terrible and sublime, dreamed and actual. Traversing wildernesses, imaginary and tactile, mystical and cinematic, a transformation occurs from star matter to actual human heart. "Frontier" will be released in October on Manimal Vinyl, and she is confirmed to be appearing on the label's tribute record to The Cure.

Discography

Albums

*2005: "The Bride of Dynamite"
*2008: "Frontier" TBR

ingles

*2008: "Fall Up"/"Heartless"

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/daniellestechhomsy Rio en Medio] at MySpace
* [http://www.last.fm/music/Rio+en+Medio/ Rio en Medio] at Last.fm
* [http://www.gnomonsong.com/rioenmedio/ Gnomonsong Artists: Rio en Medio]