Band of the Month: Krista L.L. Muir

This multi-instrumentalist closets her leather pants for the ukulele

By Jessica Blumensheid
Published: September 4th, 2008 | 10:10am

WHO IT IS
Multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, baker, and traveler Krista L.L. Muir.

LOCATION
Montreal, Quebec

FILE UNDER
A multicultural journey flushed through imaginary ’60s and ’70s poppy waters.

IN A NUTSHELL
For Krista L.L. Muir, traveling creates unbounded music. With a worldly palate, Muir never thought her casual musical compositions would take her this far. In a sense, this exotic singer-songwriter is a beautiful accident — like bumping into a fine-looking stranger with whom you’ll inevitably fall in love.

Although Muir had professional music lessons growing up, her musical career didn’t come to fold until 10 years ago under the pseudonym Lederhosen Lucil. This pop, dance-infused project is the first of Muir’s musical accidents. “I never imagined in a million years that I’d be producing music and performing on a regular basis,” Muir says. “It was a beautiful accident — and I think a lot of things in life really are.”

Muir named herself Lederhose Lucil after a friend gave her a keyboard as a Christmas gift. “I had this funny little martini party, and I performed these songs just for fun. I borrowed some lederhosen from this guy at work to make it quirky and cabaret. It came together in the most bizarre, natural way.”

Muir speaks of Lederhosen Lucil in third-person voice, but the persona is still prominent to the Krista Muir mold. “She was an amazing persona and a tool to test out the waters because I didn’t perform a lot,” Muir says. “It was this magical, inexplicable thing that happened.”

Eight years later, with a handful of releases, a closet-full of handcrafted costumes, and a DIY record label, Muir decided to put Lederhosen Lucil away indefinitely for a newfound love: the ukulele. She also wanted to develop music under her real name. “I really just wanted to do something completely different, and it’s funny that that would just be myself,” she says. “It became much more natural to wear my jeans onstage.”

Performing as Krista Muir, she’s using the opportunity to share her worldly experiences. She often writes lyrics in English but also experiments with Greek, French, and German. “Language is something to play with quite literally and figuratively,” she says. “It adds more of a challenge when you’re working with a different language.”

Muir’s upcoming album, Accidental Railway, will allow listeners to travel along with Muir. “Accidental Railway is an imaginary town, where I live sometimes,” Muir explains. The album’s artwork is a map of the village. The concept behind the album is a reflection of life’s wonderful mistakes.

“The cover is a part of this town, and every street name, every place has a meaning. I think life is kind of like that,” Muir says. “Every place we go has meaning to it. A lot of times, they’re beautiful accidents. Sometimes they’re not pleasant ones, but they help us down a path that leads us where we need to go.”

GOALS
Accidental Railway will be released on October 15 on Indica Records. In the meantime, Muir will work on her untitled Rembetika side project, play Ottawa’s September Lady Fest, and tour Europe in May 2009. Muir will also bring back Lederhosen Lucil in the spring to play Montreal’s Kid’s Pop festival.

MORE INFO
Muir’s Myspace page
Muir’s official Web site
Muir’s “Leave Alright” music video

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Comments

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JessicaBlumensheid (about 1 year)
The name of Muir's independent, bedroom label is called Hypo Productions, which she mostly operated while under the influence of Lederhosen Lucil. Pretty cool, huh?