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A Stray Catalyst

RIYL

Amanda Palmer, Regina Spektor, Cosmo Sheldrake, Sarah Bareilles, Hayley Williams, Carla Kihlstedt, Emilie Autumn, Weird Al, Platypus Egg, Miracle Musical

Inception

San Diego , 2019

Influences

Muse, Miracle Musical, Chopin, Tom Lehrer, Simon & Garfunkel, Dresden Dolls, the Zombies, Radiohead, Queen, the Beatles

Discography

Video(s)

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Based in Linda Vista, A Stray Catalyst is a Gesamtkunstwerk project by Saki that integrates poetry, music, choreography, videography, and mixed media arts. The project began in 2019 as a collection of poetry set to music, featuring unusual instrumentation and clever lyrics, though Saki eventually began performing compositions in solo open mic settings. "I really like showing up to open mics with an autoharp or an accordion instead of a guitar, because it exposes people to sounds they may not have considered functional outside of, say, polka music...I can incidentally do the splits while playing accordion, but this party trick hasn't found its way into my act yet."

The title single for Saki's Solitaire for Two album appeared in advance of its October 2020 release, as well as an accompanying video. "I started this album in October of 2019, at San Diego Mesa Community College. They have an excellent recording arts program. I recorded it all myself, wrote the songs, played the instruments, did the studio recordings, edited and mixed it, and mastered most of it too. I originally enrolled so that I could learn basic mic techniques, but I learned so much that I was able to do the entire process from start to finish, so I'm really thankful for the level of education Mesa College provides."

The album title is taken from the album single of the same name. "This song is about cognitive dissonance, and how that manifests itself in intra-and interpersonal relationships. The rest of the concept album is similarly themed, in that it presents the musings of someone who nonchalantly evaluates age-old psychological and societal conundrums from an all-too-intellectual standpoint, only to find themselves lost in a labyrinth of second-guesses."

Solitaire for Two was released with an eco-friendly "vinyl-free vinyl" option, which Saki describes as "Basically just the record jacket with all the lyrics and liner notes and art and stuff, but no vinyl record inside. In lieu of a record, you'll get a download code for 2 tracks, Side A and Side B, to simulate seamless listening of the album. Vinyl-free vinyl is for all those people out there who don't own a turntable but still purchase albums for the sake of collecting the jackets and/or supporting the artists."

A Stray Catalyst released a new cereal-centric video for "I Love My Whole Grain Oats" in summer 2022. Among the local performers seen in this paean to the internal health benefits of cereal are violinist Jamie Shadowlight, drummer Dylan Marks (Eukaryst, Beekeeper), upright bassist Andre Beller (Old Man Wizard, Kirby’s Dream Band), and punkgrass artist Fast Heart Mart on banjo. Additional cameos can be spotted from local poet Matthew Muñoz, Reckless Brewery founder Dave Hyndman, and Vista opera singer Devon Crowe.

Asked about a worst gig, Saki recalls "I have a pretty fun story about an accordion gig I did a few years back. It's both my best AND worst gig ever. My roommate told me there was a Beatlesmania-fest of some sort, and he urged me to crash the show. I thought it was going to be a super casual open mic sort of deal, so I went with my friend who plays banjo, and we told the front door person that we were with the band. We get in and the room is packed with audience members -- oh, this is at Queen Bee's in North Park -- and we head backstage and ask one of the other bands how to get a performance slot. They said they were booked several months in advance -- it was a pretty big deal."

"So then, I pull up the Facebook event page and nearly fainted -- this was kind of a huge production -- people were paying a lot of money to attend the event, and all of the bands in the lineup were mentioned on the super official-looking event flyer (except for me and my friend, of course). But it was too late to back out, because we had already gained free admission into the venue and told some of the audience members we were performing. So I talked to the guy in charge and made up a story about how our crackhead manager told us we were booked for this gig but didn't give us details, which is why we just showed up and were surprised that we weren't on the bill. The stage manager wasn't happy about it but told us he could squeeze us in while the second band set up. That gave me and my friend about 20 minutes to figure out some Beatles cover songs for accordion and banjo, and I don't know how we pulled it off, but we did, and the audience loved it!"

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