Meet the Lumière Dreamers: Great Aunt Ida
Ida Nilsen - Piano and vocals
JP Carter - Trumpet
Mark Haney - Double Bass
Barry Mirochnik - Drums
Jonathon Andersen - Guitar
As a vehicle for pianist and songwriter, Ida Nilsen, Great Aunt Ida has existed in various shapes and places since 2003, beginning and returning to Vancouver, BC. Influenced by a variety of genres but rooted in the popular song, Nilsen’s writing has been called “intimate and honest”, “warm and spare,” bordering on misanthropic, and “somehow unlike any other girl/piano combo.” An active member of Vancouver’s music scene in the late 90s and 2000s, Nilsen was also a member of acclaimed “post-rock” group The Beans, alt-country Radiogram, experimental all-improv group Cunt, The Gay, The Buttless Chaps, and the Toronto-based Violet Archers.
Great Aunt Ida released three albums between 2005 and 2011: “Our Fall” (2005 Hive-fi), “How They Fly” (2006 Northern Electric), and “Nuclearize Me” (2011 Zunior). After a lengthy hiatus, Great Aunt Ida returned with “Unsayable,” released on September 7th 2021, described as “a delicate, lushly tranquil release that sounds like it was made by ghosts in a dilapidated old house” (Vancouver Sun).
Website: https://www.greatauntida.com/
Facebook: @greatauntida
Bandcamp: https://greatauntida.bandcamp.com/