Music
Press
Andy Mitton is a man of many talents. Although he moved from Boston to Los Angeles four years ago with intentions of being a writer, he has since not only written and had his plays produced but also co-founded the Santa Monica–based theatre company Sight Unseen. His musical talents are also on display in Theatre of NOTE's current production of Phinneas Kiyomura's play Lydia in Bed, for which he is credited as sound designer and composer. Mitton is a multitalented musician—he plays guitar and piano and is a trained singer—and he began composing in college. His contribution to the show is considerable, creating a palpable atmosphere of anxiety and flaring emotion, but his initial connection with the production was via happenstance. "I believe [director] Sam [Roberts] found it as an opportunity on Craigslist.com…and I read it just as a friend of Sam's," explains Mitton. "When he first received it and decided to take the project on, we certainly thought it was an unusual play that had a lot of meat on its bones, and we could be able to create a world that we hadn't really seen before…. Sam is someone who really appreciates working with an original score in theatre, and we work very well together; we understand each other." Mitton attended run-throughs of the play to get a sense of it, and very early on decided that the character monologues provided a "good place for some sound-design opportunities. I always felt that [the vibe] should never calm down; I described [the sound design] early as like a headache, this throb in the background that would be hopefully building the tension." Mitton created the sound design and score with a home Pro Tools studio, using a keyboard, two guitars, and an uncredited (Sight Unseen member) Clark Freeman on drums. Lydia skips constantly back and forth in its timeline, so Mitton attached musical themes to chronology instead of characters, to keep things from getting confusing. He enjoys collaborating with new directors, and is particularly looking forward to the world premiere of his new musical political satire Lucid Sound, which Roberts is directing and will be presented at the Miles Memorial Playhouse this fall. —Terry Morgan - Backstage West
Discography
The Real D'Coy (self-titled) - songwriter, vocals, guitar, and bass.
Photos
Bio
Andy lives a Renaissance Man lifestyle in Los Angeles, switching between gigs in live music, original score composition, playwriting, screenwriting, and directing for both theatre and film. Storytelling is the throughline with all of this work, and having grown up in the contemporary folk scene in Boston, lyrics were always as important as the music. He plays with two active bands in Los Angeles (The Real D'Coy and Idiot Brother) and contributes songs to both projects in the hard rock and acoustic rock genres, but many songs remain only on his solo setlist and they often include the songs that are smaller or less focused on marketability, songs that are more personal in nature. He cites his main influences as Brian Wilson, Jump Little Children, James Taylor, Self, Jeff Buckley, Ben Folds, Sondre Lerche, Rufus Wainwright, and Ellis Paul.
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