Outlier_tx

Versatility of music. Different styles changing from song to song spanning rock, pop, country, spanish, irish, jazz standards, 70's, 80's, 90's 2000's, classical....

Outlier, Anthony Garcia of Texas, guitarist, pianist and vocalist; and Melanie Lenau of Michigan, violinist and vocalist are a duo who met in the port town of Busan, South Korea while working there as English teachers. It was there in 2012 that they recorded their debut, self titled album Outlier. The album features a full band and is electric guitar centered,cinematic Americana with solos reaching back to the guitar hero tradition of Zeppelin and Hendrix, lyrics and songs that pay homage to Townes Van Zandt and Leonard Cohen, and haunting violin inspired by J.S. Bach, reflecting the duo’s formal classical training. The album has been described as “mariachiesque Queens of the Stone Age”;‘like something out of a Cormac McCarthy Novel”; songs that seem like they’re the ‘missing tracks from a Robert Rodriguez soundtrack”; and in Paris, France as “Americana Hypnotique” where the duo spent the spring and summer of 2014 touring. In addition to Paris, they toured through Prague, Greece, Ireland and Germany. That summer saw the recording of the duo’s second album Live in Berlin, which is largely a live acoustic interpretation of their debut album with a couple new songs recorded, as the title suggests, in front of a live audience in Berlin’s bohemian neighborhood, Prenzlauer Berg.

Live as a duo, their songs are brought to life with subtle, live percussive loops that Anthony creates on the fly by beating on his acoustic guitar, freeing him up to move over to the piano, on which he is classically trained. Melanie adds vocal harmonies and chordal violin accompaniment as well as gypsy, baroque solo lines. The texture of their duo performances reaches from the most tender vocal harmonies to a sprawling wall of sound.

While the duo has composed a substantial body of original music, their cover repertoire is vast and versatile reflecting their travels and love for songwriting. Their cover set includes traditional Irish, Spanish, obscure rock classics, blues, country (think Bob Wills and Willie), and even some jazz standards. Melanie also puts down the violin during their cover set and picks up the acoustic guitar to give a female touch to male songwriters such as Neil Young, John Prine, and Kurt Cobain among others.

In addition to traveling overseas playing music, the duo perform regularly through West Texas, the Texas Hill Country, New Mexico, and even Melanie’s native Michigan.