Kimya Dawson

All Music Guide:

Singer/songwriter Kimya Dawson is best known for her work with the anti-folk outfit the Moldy Peaches, but she also maintained a lo-fi solo career during the 2000s. She made her solo debut with 2002's I'm Sorry That Sometimes I'm Mean, a collection of spare tunes performed mostly on the acoustic guitar, and continued releasing her own albums after the Moldy Peaches took a hiatus in 2004. Along the way, she contributed eight songs to the chart-topping Juno soundtrack, which brought her music to a wider audience, and made a foray into children's music.

The quirky songwriter was born and raised in Bedford Hills, NY, where her parents ran a day-care center from their home. Dawson and fellow Moldy Peach member Adam Green met in 1995 at a record store in Mt. Kisco, NY, where she worked. For the next four years, Dawson moved back and forth between New York and Washington, but she and Green began writing songs together whenever time allowed. In 1999, Green followed Dawson to Washington, where they formed the Moldy Peaches. Green returned to New York after a year, with Dawson following later. Eventually, the Moldy Peaches -- now featuring a lineup that included Dawson, Green, drummer Strictly Beats, bassist Steve Mertens, and guitarists Jack Dishel and Toby Goodshank -- began playing the city's anti-folk circuit.

The group released their self-titled debut in 2001 to critical acclaim. All the songs were co-written and sung by both Dawson and Green, and the band toured the States and abroad in support of its release. Dawson also began working with other artists by contributing backing vocals to Ben Kweller's 2002 solo debut, Sha, Sha. Later that same year, the Moldy Peaches began a hiatus of indefinite length when both Dawson and Green's (Garfield) solo albums were released. I'm Sorry That Sometimes I'm Mean was well received by critics, and Dawson embarked on a tour of Europe and the United States.

In 2004, Dawson released two more albums of material culled from her bedroom sessions: Knock-Knock Who? and My Cute Fiend Sweet Princess. Later that year, Hidden Vagenda arrived on K Records. Dawson resurfaced in 2006 with the Kimya Dawson/Matty Pop Chart EP, as well as a full-length album titled Remember That I Love You. Her career took a slight but surprising turn in 2008, when the Juno soundtrack became a multi-platinum success and K Records released her first children's album, Alphabutt, which included the songs "Wiggle My Tooth," "Little Monster Babies," and "Pee Pee in the Potty."

Wikipedia:

Kimya Dawson (born November 17, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter, best known as a solo performer and as one half of The Moldy Peaches. In Swahili, "Kimya" (كيميا) means "silence" or "silent".

Career

Dawson became well known as Adam Green's counterpart in The Moldy Peaches. Since the Moldy Peaches went on hiatus in 2004 Dawson has released a string of lo-fi homemade albums and toured widely in North America and Europe.

Kimya's most recent album is "Thunder Thighs", released in October 2011. It contains collaborations with Aesop Rock on songs such as "The Library" and "Walk Like Thunder" and Pablo Das on "Unrefined".

Dawson's children's album, Alphabutt, was released on September 9, 2008. Song titles include "The Alphabutt Song," "Seven Hungry Tigers," "Little Monster Babies," "Wiggle My Tooth" and "Pee Pee in the Potty," and collaborators include former Third Eye Blind guitarist Kevin Cadogan and a number of Dawson's other musical friends and their children. She has also been invited to participate in the Sesame Street television program.

Soundtrack work

Dawson's songs are featured in the films The Guatemalan Handshake and Glue, both of which were shown at the Olympia Film Festival in November 2007.

In 2008 Dawson contributed the song "Anthrax"—about 9/11—to the soundtrack of the Body of War documentary.

"Anyone Else But You", a song she recorded with The Moldy Peaches was used in the documentary Murderball, about a team of wheelchair rugby players. This song was also used in the movie Juno. The melody of this song, with new lyrics, was used in a commercial for Atlantis.com.

Dawson's music was featured in the movie Juno, in that her "sweetly melancholic acoustic-strummed tunes" helping define the character of a pregnant young teenager who decides to have her baby. Dawson helped choose many of the songs for the Juno film, helping to set the film's mood. The soundtrack was voted by NPR listeners as the 14th best of the year in a listener poll for 2008. Dawson sings about diverse topics:

Dawson's authentic persona, sometimes compared to indie folk artists such as Quinn Marston, has a demeanor which is "sheepish and guileless and awkward in a way that you really can't fake" and who sometimes looks "legitimately terrified" during performances, according to Village Voice music critic Rob Harvilla.

Five of Dawson's solo songs, two from Antsy Pants, as well as one from the Moldy Peaches, are included on the Juno soundtrack, released in December 2007. Composer Mateo Messina also based the film's score on Dawson's music.

The soundtrack album, after two weeks topping Billboard's Digital Albums chart, reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200, in its first week of release. In its first full week of physical release the album sold 68,000 copies, reaching No. 3 on the Soundscan album chart. It missed out on the No. 1 spot by only 2,600 copies. The following week it jumped to #2, while selling 15% fewer copies (58,000), just 2,000 copies behind first place. In the album's third week of physical release it finally made the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 and Soundscan charts, selling 65,000 copies.

Dawson has two new songs that were released on April 8 on a follow-up album Juno B-Sides: Almost Adopted Songs that is available exclusively on iTunes.

Two songs were also included in the soundtrack to Unmade Beds.

Other collaborations

Dawson performs on recordings by Ben Kweller, They Might Be Giants, The Mountain Goats, John Wayne Shot Me, Your Heart Breaks, and The Terrordactyls.

The Third Eye Blind track "Self-Righteous" on their album, Out of the Vein features a duet with Dawson and Third Eye Blind's lead singer Stephan Jenkins. Dawson also appears on the new Third Eye Blind record, Ursa Major, on the track "Why Can't You Be". This song was available as a bonus track on the iTunes Store download.

Regina Spektor collaborated with Dawson on the song "Fire" on the Hidden Vagenda album. Kimya Dawson also collaborated with fellow antifolk Jeffrey Lewis. They made a band called 'The Bundles,' with Jack Lewis and drummer, Anders Griffen, though released the songs under the name Kimya Dawson and Jeffrey Lewis, on a split with Jeffrey Lewis and Diane Cluck.

Under the name Geniusis, Dawson released the free album Holiday Rampage alongside Aesop Rock, Johnny Druelinger, Jason Carmer & Quinn Tuffinuff.

In February 2011, Dawson recorded a Daytrotter session with Aesop Rock, in which they performed three songs together. This session was later released in May 2011. Kimya and Aesop are currently collaborating on a new album, which will be released in 2012.

Kimya released the solo album "Thunder Thighs" in October 2011. The album features guest performances by Aesop Rock, John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, Nikolai Fraiture of the Strokes, Forever Young Senior Citizen Rock & Roll Choir, Olympia Free Choir, Quinn Tuffinuff, Kimya's daughter Panda and more.

She has performed numerous times with Paul Baribeau, whom she references several times in her songs.

Personal life

A sometime resident of Bedford Hills, New York, Dawson moved in December 2005—with her mother, father, brother, Akida Junglefoot Dawson (Akida means "chief" in Swahili), and nephew—to Seattle, Washington. She married Angelo Spencer, a musician. On July 28, 2006, Kimya gave birth to a daughter, Panda Delilah, and in November 2006 she moved with her new family to Olympia, Washington. After Panda was born, Dawson and Spencer took a break from touring for a few months, playing only occasional local shows.

Dawson has knuckle tattoos which read "LAFF LOUD" and "ROCK SOFT". She also has a freebird tattoo on her left calf.

Dawson once started a rumour that she was a cousin of The Strokes' drummer Fabrizio Moretti.

Dawson is good friends with Bryan Danielson.