Maesyn

SoCal Musician proudly presents:
MAESYN
SoCal Musician Artist of the Month - November
Genre: Blues/Jazz/Funk Location: Venice Beach, CA

Written by: Matt Johnson, SoCal Writing Department

Glowing with the kind of radiance generally reserved for angels, Maesyn greets me inside of a Starbucks with a tremendous hug. Her car is out front, although dressed in an antique white gown wearing hand-crafted beads, one would think she would be content walking the earth with a fresh pair of shoes and a perpetual smile on her face.

Though it is another day of sweltering heat in the San Fernando Valley, the first thing the violin-touting songstress chooses to discuss is the beauty in life.

"Everything is perfect," she said, unable and unwilling to restrain the passion that pours from each syllable. "I try to live in the now and surrender myself to the universe."

Spirituality is a significant piece in the puzzle that makes up the exuberant singer/songwriter, and after spending just a few moments with her, it becomes apparent that she is someone who commands attention.

Within minutes, she suddenly has me rubbing my hands together like a man trying to stay warm in a blizzard, and she immediately joins in as we continue to rub our hands together in unison.

Unorthodox behavior inside of a coffee shop to say the least, she explains to me that we are doing this to alert ourselves to our ever-present energy field. She practices Reiki, a Japanese form of healing therapy, where you tune into your body's natural healing energy. Everything is made up of vibrations - matter, sound, light. Music.

Onlookers continue to wonder what the hell we're doing, curious as to why such unusual behavior was going on. The unapologetically natural vocalist hasn't always been as flamboyant, however, growing up in New Haven, Connecticut, she was secretly shy and knew that there was an entire world yet to be explored.

As a child, she benefitted from the philanthropist efforts of her parents while they all volunteered heavily with Habitat for Humanity and contributed in humanitarian efforts like feeding and building houses for the homeless.

"My parents are amazing," she insists. "I have always loved volunteering because it reminds me how fun it is to help."

While she learned of the advantages of hospitality from her parents, she also acquired an affection from music from her father, who was a professional folk music musician, letting his inquisitive daughter often climb on stage and hang out with the band.

Eventually she leapt off of the stage of her fathers and onto a stage of her own, taking violin lessons, but intent on creating her personal expression of music. Though the violin offered her a way to express herself musically, she became frustrated with limitations she felt were placed on her growth. She abandoned the violin at age 18 because she "didn't want to be told what to do."

She spent her time in college discovering who she was as a person, searching for understanding.

"I used to approach religious people with, 'How can you believe in God?' My family encouraged me to find out for myself, so I was an atheist for a long time until I began to understand energy.

"I was sheltered as a child and I didn't really experience pain. When I did experience it much later, I tried to hide from it by smoking pot," she said. "That addiction masked my addiction to fear, and breaking free from it became my major growth lesson. Finding freedom by confronting my addictions became the purpose of a lot of my songs. Gossip, pot, drama, caffeine, self-criticism. All addictions!"

During her final years at Vanderbilt University, after receiving her degree in English, she knew that music was her calling.

"It was something I loved to do," she remembers, reminiscing of the days she would carry her violin onto the bus and take requests from fellow passengers. "I just trust and surrender myself to my violin."

She developed a relationship with her prized stringed apparatus that most don't have with her spouses. Her violin is named "Muddy."

"It was inspired by the call and response style of 'Muddy Waters'," she explains. "It's the fiddling influence - she's a dirty sounding violin sometimes. She's got personality, and I let her talk."

Her exceptionally fascinating bond with her instrument, as well as her ability to create music on the fly helps her give extremely memorable performances as her unpredictable behavior has lead to countless memorable shows where her audience can't help but contract her contagious enthusiasm.

"I've flashed people before at a show, accidentally of course," Maesyn recalls, her smile now wider than ever. "I just lose myself on stage sometimes, but it's where I'm most free."

Admittedly "exploding with love a lot of the time," it seems only natural that she would spread the love at her performances, sometimes inviting the audience to participate in an intense, up close and personal "eye gaze" with the person next to him or her, who is often a complete stranger.

Through this practice, she believes the audience can interact with one another on a whole new level, embracing connectivity and breaking the social shackles of isolation that often restrains the character of society.

With her upcoming album, Maesyn intends on taking the Radiohead approach, thereby offering her album at whatever price the public feels it's worth. And to her credit, she told me about her plans long before Radiohead shocked the music industry with her album announcement.

Because her personality is so pleasantly eccentric, it would be hard to imagine if her music was much different. And thankfully her music and her being is so infectious that anyone in a coffee shop with her would gladly rub their hands together along with her.

Feel free to visit www.myspace.com/maesyn to listen to her music! - SoCal Musician