What fans are saying:
‘Your lyrics are ultra-cool; subtle but really straightforward. And man, you’ve got a truly dazzling voice.’ – Renata (Music Life Magazine Columnist, Mexico City)
‘I really dig what you do’ – Edwin (Homegrown radio, Netherlands)
‘I’m very sure you’ll be massive soon!’ – Ed (Tomorrow’s News)
A Ballad Guitar performance
Bio
Every once in a while, an artist appears who has their own world of composition and their own language of performance. Phoenix Imago is one of these rare musicians. His soulful voice and funky yet folk/world/rock infused songs often sound like you’ve known them your whole life – yet they are always 100% fresh at the same time.
As a solo performer, his guitar songs are often finger picked style folk/country influenced. There are hints of Jeff Buckley in the playing and singing. Yet some others are more funky with a yearning R&B falsetto. His piano songs vividly evoke the boogie woogie of the 1920s – and then suddenly an offbeat pop ballad from the last decade… and then Stevie Wonder’s soul music of the 1970s…
As a recording artist he plays every instrument under the sun and does it well. Again the blend of influences is diverse and overt. Soul, jazz, gospel, folk, rock… …just because you have heard one track – don’t think for a minute you know what to expect from the rest! They hang together because they have their composer and performer in common, not because they fit any one genre that came before.
An Upbeat Piano performance
Born in 1979 near London in the UK he grew up in a home filled with guitars often handmade by his father, but also with heavy expectations of a science based career. Perhaps the reason his music is so fiercely individual stems from a first career as a computer programmer. Feeling creatively stifled in a office ‘with music running round my head 24/7′ he reacted by trying to shape every moment of his recordings and performances. Themes of a better life in a better world run through many of his songs. A long distance (barefoot) runner, a long time yoga fanatic and a brief time teaching the discipline are evident in his intensely physical approach to playing and his spiritual lyrics.
He now lives by a lake in Umbria, Italy (near Cortona, where the book ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ was written) apparently preferring the more direct yet laid back society to the UK’s more logical yet reserved culture. In his own words ‘I adore the people, the weather, the language, the landscape and the food here – not so keen on the government but you can’t always have everything!’
