Aisha Burns

Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, and currently residing in Western Massachusetts, violinist and singer-songwriter Aisha Burns began playing violin when she was 10 years old. Soon after moving to Austin in 2005, she gained her start with a Texas folk-rock band, began touring and recording, and later joined the instrumental ensemble Balmorhea on violin in 2007. After years of secret singing, she released her solo debut Life in the Midwater in 2013. Called "twisting, ethereal...arresting" by Dazed Magazine, and praised for its "delicate intimacy" by NPR, Life in the Midwater explored mortality and relationships with candor and wisdom.

Her newest album Argonauta, is a collection of songs about her struggle with the grief of losing her mother, while also navigating a new relationship, and ultimately trying to discern the new normal for her life. "Argonauta takes her vocal prowess to a new level—more confident and operatic,” Bandcamp wrote. “She evokes Thom Yorke’s plaintive cry...and occasionally, she delivers the album’s most poignant messages with an air of almost stately detachment, bringing to mind the German cult singer Nico, acting as a foil for the rich string arrangements, equally cinematic and mournful..." Called “A poignant album” by Pitchfork, Aisha wrote Argonauta to quiet a weary mind. Taking its name from a book by Anne Morrow Lindbergh called Gift From the Sea, the record picks up where Life in the Midwater left us, this time with even more strength and light. Aisha has performed at the SXSW festival in Austin, NXNE festival in Toronto, as well as the Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg, Germany, among others.