Alexandra Rising's full-length debut, a theatrical, chamber-pop exploration of identity, powerplay, and dire consequences, is available on CD Baby at:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/alexandrarising
Making sexy songs with mediocre piano skills since 1990-something
Alexandra Rising is the stage moniker of one Leia Alexandra Manuel, a curly-haired only child born and raised in rural, south-central VA. In Fall 2006, after eight years of working with multitrack cassette recorders, she assembled a computer-based recording studio in her basement and systematically forced the equipment into submission. A notorious control freak, Leia has enjoyed wearing the hats of writer, composer, sound technician, and producer, though she hopes to begin collaborating with other strangelings in the very near future.
Leia grew up listening to the vinyls in her parents' collection, including Simon and Garfunkel, Judy Collins, and Don McLean. Before she was old enough to classify this material as "folk music," she was already learning from it how to arrest listeners with memorable melodies, passionate vocals and skillfully woven stories. Other formative influences were the fiery vigor of Greek folk songs and the high drama of music from stage and screen.
In middle school Leia discovered the alternative rock stations on her radio dial, and her concept of all that music was and could be was transformed for good. From there she worked backwards, gleefully exploring all the 60s and 70s greats who had not appeared in her parents’ tame library. By college she had also developed a taste for silver screen glamour as well as the beautiful boys of the glam rock movement (though she must admit that her fondness for BIMs, or Boys In Makeup, probably started years earlier when she saw the delightful – package – that was David Bowie in Labyrinth).
Leia has a master’s degree in Creative Writing, which means she is certifiably insane. But also, she likes to think that the many poetry workshops she has been through have made her a better songwriter. Among her musical role models she counts the individualistic, the magnetic, the theatrical, and the androgynously sexy: artists who are less men or women then they are forces of nature. Her favorite characters to explore in art are the heroic villains, the villainous heroes, and others who defy classification, as do we all once you really get to know us.
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Artwork: Leia