Project Description
Photo Credit: David Pettijohn
Psychologist, cellist, composer, and singer-songwriter Mia Pixley’s upcoming album, Margaret in the Wild, grows a new home beyond herself and her cello – one that is no longer a secret. A transracial adoptee born of Venezuelan and Nigerian descent and raised in a white middle-class, American family, Pixley spent most of her life feeling unsettlingly uprooted. The all-white environments she experienced in her hometown of Austin,Texas did not nourish or celebrate the cultures and histories of her bi-racial and bi-national origins. She reflects, “Nowhere was home. My identity was a weak shell, ill-fed by cultural neglect. This lack of identity was the most shameful and identifying thing about me. And, like so many people, music became my private way of connecting to myself. Music became my secret garden.”
RELEASES
“Cellist & vocalist Mia Pixley delivers a rich, emotive record with stirring vocal melodies & gorgeous strings for a riveting final product.” — Bandcamp
Margaret in the Wild establishes a home beyond Pixley and her cello – a home truly sowed in the earth. The album was mixed by two-time GRAMMY Award winner, Nahuel Bronziniand mastered by multi Latin GRAMMY award winner Andrés Mayo (Argentina).
Each track spirals and unfurls into full bloom as if emerging from nature’s roots and Pixley’s internal discoveries within the wild. The songs simultaneously tell the stories of the wilderness within and without and the complimentary search for human connection. “In the Daylight” distills the collective day-to-day pulse through a rhythmic meditative groove. “Everything is Slow Motion” expresses Pixley’s personal experiences as a transracial adoptee and the overt and covert racial aggressions brought by her differences. The song also expresses a collective lament for past and present-day racialized traumas experienced by many American families and communities of color.
An epic embedded in silent suffering, the single speaks to the ongoing and often quiet racial injustices in the United States. A hint of Billie Holliday’s “Strange Fruit” dances amongst the fine lines of Pixley’s cascading cello and soul-stricken vocals to mimic the slow pace of racial justice in America.
“A soft, stirring ray of sound washes over the ears as Mia Pixley’s meditative and mesmerizing new single ‘In the Daylight’ gently rises and shines.” -Atwood
“In the Daylight” distills the collective day-to-day pulse through a rhythmic meditative groove, delving into the feel of our day’s rhythms — an experience that can simultaneously be a groove, a gift, and a burden. The song’s persistent and evocative percussive groove draws from the Brazilian musical tradition of pagode style samba, channeling Pixley’s South American roots. Her blues-inspired cello subtly interludes into a saw-toothed grind, reflecting life’s burdens. And her voice takes on the euphoria of life’s everyday gifts.
The new EP from Mia Pixley, in collaboration with husband and painter Kevin Shaw, encapsulates a cross-medium therapeutic intervention between a baroque soul cello and radiant acrylic paint on canvas. As a comprehensive call and response visual art and music collaboration, the Spar Suite: A Music and Visual Art Call and Response EP produces an unpredictable stability in the form of hushed reverent tones. The Spar Suite: A Music and Visual Art Call and Response EP is out for digital distribution on February 28. Read more
“Where You Stood”
Release Date: January 27, 2020

“Where You Stood” is merely the beginning of a much larger narrative, it acts as the opening title page and preface to a much more comprehensive body of work. Complete with visually stunning and corresponding acrylic paintings, Mia Pixley’s punctuated cello leaps off of Kevin Shaw’s canvas as the two share a conversation beyond linguistic context.
Bio
Like so many of us, Mia Pixley found a secret home in music. A transracial adoptee born of Venezuelan and Nigerian descent and raised in a white middle-class, American family, Pixley spent most of her life feeling unsettlingly uprooted. The all-white environments she experienced in her hometown of Austin,Texas did not nourish or celebrate the cultures and histories of her bi-racial and bi-national origins. She reflects, “Nowhere was home. My identity was a weak shell, ill-fed by cultural neglect. This lack of identity was the most shameful and identifying thing about me. Music became my private way of connecting to myself. Music became my secret garden.”

“A soft, stirring ray of sound washes over the ears as Mia Pixley’s meditative and mesmerizing new single ‘In the Daylight’ gently rises and shines.”

“Mia Pixley circles around stories in her songs, implying much, and declaring little, creating a constant sense of enveloping curiosity. As if beneath cello plucks and wails, there’s the truth of the matter.” — Afropunk
“Every time I think I’ve forgotten about Mia Pixley, she pulls me right back in with another enchanting work.” – Jody Amable, The Bay Bridged

“Cellist & vocalist Mia Pixley delivers a rich, emotive record with stirring vocal melodies & gorgeous strings for a riveting final product.”