ARTIST INFORMATION
Hometown: Seattle
Genre: Folk, Neo-Classical, Alt-Folk, Cinematic
Sounds Like: My Brightest Diamond, Sufjan Stevens, Owen Pallett, Jocelyn Pook
Years Active: 2018 - Present
Label: Self-Released
Official Website: glassheartstringchoir.com
ABOUT THE BAND
Ian Williams and Katie Mosehauer are Glass Heart String Choir, a classically-influenced folk duo that create emotionally-charged, cinematic songs.
Reveling at the intersection of classical virtuosity, existential poetics, and art-film surrealism, the Seattle alt-folk duo weaves golden lyrical threads of haute-art into their achingly beautiful, violin-and-harp-infused orchestral tapestry. They have toured the US, New Zealand, and Canada, and opened for esteemed indie-artists Devotchka, Emily Wells, and French for Rabbits.
CONTACT: Ian Williams, 1 (206) 714-1586
PREVIOUS PRESS
BIO
“Light glows with complex luminous colors, supple textures, and a gorgeous liturgical aura.”
PopDust
“Their music can often bed down deep inside you;
such is its expressive quality.”
Folk Radio UK
“Glass Heart String Choir dwell in a beautiful,
humbling darkness. Their honesty strikes the heart
with a fierce blow, beckoning us further into their
world of wonder and woe.”
Atwood Magazine
“...a hearty slice of baroque indie folk that
wonderfully captures the duo’s synergy as
songwriters and performers.”
For Folk's Sake
“In a vast sea of disposable music, every once and a while something comes along that notches out its very own immaculately unique nook.”
Global Texan Chronicles
"Blending cinematic, folk and classical in a way that is almost exclusive..."
Music Dances While You Sleep
Friends-in-arms reveling at the intersection of classical virtuosity, existential poetics, and art-film surrealism, Seattle art-pop duo Glass Heart String Choir weaves golden lyrical threads of haute-art into their achingly beautiful orchestral tapestry.
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“Blending cinematic, folk, and classical in a way that is almost exclusive” (Music Dances While You Sleep), Falling Stars focuses on violinist/composer Katie Mosehauer’s classical influences and string arranging prowess, bringing both to the fore while maintaining the duo’s penchant for gliding gracefully between melancholic-folk and sweeping orchestral beauty.
Following previous singles Wounds (“...a beautifully raw distillation of love’s pain” [Atwood Magazine]) California (“...heartfelt and intuitive” [Folk Radio UK]), and Iron & Wine cover Call It Dreaming (...simply put, breathtaking” [Global Texan Chronicles]), Falling Stars is a succinct emotional soundtrack that wordlessly carries the listener through the duo’s unique interplay of classically-influenced violin, string orchestras, harp, guitar, piano, and more.
Divinity, their newest single, takes us on a journey through the careful tending of love and relationships, when the tools we have aren’t made for the task at hand; our knives too dull, our fingers inelegant, our words graceless. “Even though the song’s central realization is that of the hopeless, I somehow remain a blind optimist regarding the future”, states singer Ian Williams. “Maybe in the awareness that the approach we’ve taken doesn’t work, our eyes are opened to another door. Let’s try that one.” Floating elegantly upon Katie Mosehauer’s violins and string quartet, Divinity carries the string-orchestra vitality found in the work of My Brightest Diamond, Bjork, Father John Misty, and other sweeping, cinematic music.
Previous releases include Call It Dreaming, a cover of Iron & Wine's indie-folk hit, a special recording that came to life by request from a longtime supporter of the band as a wedding gift to their partner, and Wounds, a delicate folk-pop offering set within the alluring visuals of Joshua Tree and the Coachella Valley. The Wounds video finds her attempting to escape the confines of memory, artfully moving through unforgiving landscapes, endlessly looped back to a pool that should be a reprieve from the heat, but is instead a beguiling entrapment. Katie explains, “There are so many emotional spaces that we occupy alone, carrying a burden of psychic wounds and emotional scars that we never speak of to anyone. Music is an important place to give names to those spaces and make them visible to everyone.”
2021’s California is a lyrical tug-of-war between fond recollection, consolation, and sorrow, with vocalist Ian Williams’ sanguine delivery floating upon Mosehauer’s elegant violin melodies and choral soundscapes suggestive of contemporary soundtrack composers Yann Tiersen and Jocelyn Pook. The 100+ string-sections and near-operatic highs of their Light EP are replaced with an airy, Enya-esque choir that haunts the piano-driven bridge, and boldly carries the song forward in its latter half, bringing a soft new dimension to the traditional repertoire.
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PROMOTIONAL PHOTOS
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