Micachu

Early life

Levi was born and raised in Surrey, England, the daughter of two musicians. She started writing and playing music at the age of four. She is of Jewish descent.

Music

Levi performed as a DJ in London, and released a mixtape titled Filthy Friends, which was posted on her official Myspace page. For Filthy Friends she enlisted the help of friends and musicians of various backgrounds including MCs Baker Trouble, Brother May, Man Like Me & Ghostpoet, singer-songwriter Jack Peñate, jazz band Troyka, London pop-band Golden Silvers as well as producers Kwes and Toddla T. Following its release, Filthy Friends became sought after on the London club scene.

While a student at Guildhall, Levi was commissioned to write an orchestral piece for the London Philharmonic Orchestra which was performed at the Royal Festival Hall in April 2008.

Levi was an Artist-in-Residence at the Southbank Centre in London in 2010.

Levi co-wrote and produced Tirzah's I'm Not Dancing EP, which was released by Greco-Roman Records in August 2013, to critical acclaim.

Levi contributed to the soundtrack for Phil Collins' Ceremony at Manchester International Festival 2017.

Micachu and the Shapes

Levi formed a band called Micachu and The Shapes, which included Raisa Khan on keyboards and Marc Pell on drums. They signed to Accidental Records. With the Shapes, Levi's focus has been on experimental pop music. Most of this music prominently features an acoustic half-guitar with various non-standard tunings, extensive distortion, and use of noise and found-object elements, as well as occasionally unusual time signatures. Despite these experimental leanings, the artist categorizes her output with The Shapes as pop music.

Their debut album, Jewellery, produced with influential electronic musician Matthew Herbert, was recorded around Mica's composition studies at Guildhall School. Advance copies of the record reached the press in early 2009, and generated positive feedback. In the wake of this growing buzz, Micachu and the Shapes were signed to Rough Trade, who released Jewellery on 9 March 2009. Drowned In Sound consequently hailed the record as "thrillingly improbable pop made by a grade-A maverick."

In 2009, the band received a grant from the PRS for Music Foundation.

Micachu and the Shapes toured widely throughout the UK in 2008, including performances at Bestival and V Festival. The band played in the US at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City and SXSW in Austin, Texas. They also performed on the Main Stage of the Siren Music Festival at Coney Island in Brooklyn in July 2009. Touring continued throughout Europe and North America in the summer and fall of 2009. In Spring of 2010, Micachu and the Shapes supported Spoon on tour throughout North America.

The band performed with the London Sinfonietta at Kings Place, London in May 2010 and in March 2011 released the live recording as the album "Chopped and Screwed". Unlike their previous effort, the recording largely avoids pop sensibilities in favor of a slower, hip-hop indebted style and repetitive, discordant string arrangements. The band were chosen by Animal Collective to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that they curated in May 2011 in Minehead, England.

The follow-up to their debut, Never, was released on 23 July 2012.

The band released the album Good Sad Happy Bad on 11 September 2015. In March 2016, the band announced on social media that they were changing their name to Good Sad Happy Bad.

Film scores

Levi's first major film score was for Jonathan Glazer's 2014 film Under the Skin. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michel Faber and stars Scarlett Johansson. Produced at age 26 and created in collaboration with Glazer, Levi's film score themes are so tightly woven into the film that they give a symbiotic quality, in which the aural feels inseparable from the visual. The score was widely acclaimed for pushing the boundaries of music and sound design and Levi was nominated for multiple awards. She won Best Composer at the 2014 European Film Awards, and tied with Jonny Greenwood for Best Music/Score at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Critics Awards. She was also nominated for the 2015 BAFTA Award for Best Film Music.

In 2016, Levi completed her second major film score, for Pablo Larraín's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis biopic Jackie. Larraín had been a juror at the 2013 Venice Film Festival, and thought that Under the Skin deserved a film score prize. Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, also on the jury, was enthralled by Levi’s bold score for the film, and he and Larraín spoke passionately of her accomplishment, which led to the collaboration on Jackie. Levi was nominated for Best Original Score at the 89th Academy Awards, making her the fifth woman nominated in the category, but lost to Justin Hurwitz for La La Land.

Singles / EPs

Awards and recognition

European Film Awards, Best Composer for soundtrack to Under The Skin (2014)

BAFTA nomination for soundtrack to Under The Skin (2014)

Los Angeles Film Critics Award, Best Music Score for soundtrack to Under The Skin. Tied with Jonny Greenwood. (2014)

Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Film Music for Jackie (2016)

Nominated – Academy Award for Best Original Score for Jackie (2016)