THE EVOLUTION OF LIZ LARIN - Birmingham’s rock goddess sets a new course for her musical career
Signature 48009 - April 2007 issue
March 29th, 2007By Karen Buscemi
Photo by Daniel Lippitt
Liz Larin is going through something of a metamorphosis. The successful singer-songwriter from Birmingham, who won four Detroit Music Awards in 2006 for her latest CD ‘Wake Up, Start Dreaming,’ is crafting fresh sounds while working with new artists, and she hopes this experience will result in as many as five new CD’s in 2007.
“I’m evolving,” says Larin, whose ripe, aggressive voice and songs are complex without trying too hard, have earned her a loyal fan base. “I’ve started testing some of the new music live, so I would definitely say new music will be available by summer.”
The projects – all through Larin’s own label, Bona Dea Music – include Stella, electronic-based with Americana over the top; Arcello (from a dream about an angel with that name), an all electronica sound; and Seven Sisters, which Larin calls “a real performance-based, multi-media thing.” Two CD’s with the Liz Larin name are in the works, as well.
“I know a lot of people like the more delicate stuff that I do, and then some people really like the rock, so I decided to split those projects into two,” she says. “It won’t confuse people.”
She can be found working through her new music, as well as playing her standards, every Wednesday night at Good Night Gracie in Royal Oak, where manager Paul Jackman says she draws a loyal crowd.
“They’re very much into her and a lot of people sings along with her,” Jackman says of Larin’s audience. “I’ve told her on many occasions that I’m brainwashed. I know all the words to her songs. I walk around the house singing her lyrics.”
A self-taught musician, Larin became entranced with music at age ten, starting with songwriting. She says it was an escape from the stutter that kept her from speaking.
“I didn’t like speaking, I didn’t trust words,” she says. “Music seemed so much closer to whatever truth was under my little world. It made me really want to pursue and study it.”
After teaching herself guitar, Larin started working professionally at age 12, when she was hired by local churches to organize music for their services and sings at weddings.
Larin also plays bass, piano and keyboards, composes her own music, and produces using a computer, giving her access to full orchestration. She’s also working with electronic instruments, which she calls, ‘mind-blowing. It’s totally magical.”
The self-professed ‘geek’ wears a 4-gigabyte hard-drive around her neck so she can transfer music from studio to studio. She’s a free-lance writer/producer, and writes and records for Harvest Music & Sound Design, a commercial music company in Lansing that does television, radio and film work.
Larin is working on setting up a summer tour playing European festivals, but she is happiest at home, where she feels her fans allow her to be creative.
“Detroit audiences really want you to do something,” she says. “They are really supportive. It’s incredible
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