Micachu

Micachu serves as the performing moniker for Mica Levi, the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist who entered the world in Surrey, England, before growing up in East London’s Bow district. Her output, self-described as experimental pop, fuses hip-hop-inflected rhythms, sampled found sounds, catchy melodies, electric guitar, and occasional household appliances such as vacuum cleaners. Levi also constructs custom instruments, one of which is the Chu, a modified guitar bearing her own nickname. She started performing and writing at the age of four; even after receiving formal instruction on viola, violin, and composition at the Purcell School plus further composition studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she drew equal influence from hip-hop and the flourishing U.K. grime and garage movements. While spinning records, rapping live, and programming loops and beats at home, she posted the mixtape Filthy Friends on MySpace, a collection that mixed her favorite pop, classical, and hip-hop tracks by Golden Silvers, Man Like Me, and Jack Peñate. Contact with producer Matthew Herbert led to a deal on his Accidental imprint, where he collaborated on material for her first album; toward the end of 2007 she expanded the project into a full-band format, enlisting drummer/percussionist Marc Pell and keyboardist Raisa Khan as the Shapes. The group issued its debut limited-edition single, Lone Ranger, in May 2008, followed by Golden Phone, which gained traction on MySpace. During the same year Levi presented a composition performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall in connection with her studies. Micachu & the Shapes spent the spring and summer on the road, supporting the Mystery Jets and appearing at Bestival and V Festival. Rough Trade Records put out her debut album, Jewellery, in spring 2009. The following May, Micachu & the Shapes joined the London Sinfonietta to record material that combined the band’s handmade instruments with the ensemble’s classical resources. Levi later edited that live session into the 2011 release Chopped & Screwed. Their second album, Never, arrived in 2012; the band handled production itself, emphasizing rhythm and texture even more than on Jewellery. For several years Levi worked on separate endeavors, teaming with friend Tirzah for the EPs I’m Not Dancing and No Romance and composing the BAFTA-nominated soundtrack for Jonathan Glazer’s unsettling sci-fi film Under the Skin. The Shapes’ free-flowing third album, Good Bad Happy Sad, surfaced in 2015 and originated from extended jam sessions that Pell captured without Khan or Levi’s knowledge.