Krista Muir Takes Off Her Lederhosen
Tuesday September 11, 2007 @ 06:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

Krista Muir

MONTREAL — Just who the hell is Krista L.L. Muir, you ask? She might be more recognizable speaking with a fake German accent and sporting the golden locks of her alter-ego, the Yamaha keyboard-playing one-woman band known as Lederhosen Lucil.

The woman under the wig is leaving the pantry with a new album called Leave Alight that hits stores this week. It's a stark contrast from the infectiously danceable Lederhosen days, as the keyboards have been replaced with a ukulele.

"I kind of ran out of beats on that Yamaha," the Montreal resident says. "I had sucked the marrow right out of it.

"I have become enamoured with the baritone ukulele. I wanted something portable since I usually travel alone."

Muir will play alongside a one-time-only backing band featuring friends Stefan Schneider (Bell Orchestre, drums), Becky Foon (Silver Mt. Zion, cello), Shane Watt (who produced the album and plays guitar) and a french horn player for the album launch party at Montreal's Casa Del Popolo on Wednesday. For other shows, she'll only play with Watt.

A year-and-a-half ago — while working on another project and character, an electronic '60s act called Lucille (she calls it a "between phase") — Muir left for a tour of Europe with her ukulele. While there, she started writing made-for-ukulele songs that didn't seem to fit her German doppelganger, as they were more personal and indicative of how the real Muir was feeling at the time.

"It wasn't very goofy or kitschy," she says. "It was born from the ukulele as Lucil was born from the Yamaha.

"After playing the same songs for six years, I realized I needed to challenge myself, do something that frightened me, which meant coming out as myself and playing more personal songs."

Leave Alight's tone is more serious and melancholy, and Muir calls it her "bluer album." The new live shows have been interesting for herself and fans, especially those expecting an electro-pop dance party and the simple yet catchy keyboard beats from 2003's Tales From The Pantry and her other independent releases.

"I was struggling the first few shows to not put the fake accent on," admits Muir.

But shedding her fake German persona has opened the creative floodgates and Muir already has enough material for her next album.

Muir says Lucil will never die, much like Elvis Presley, and the hope remains to one day allow our favourite fraulein to spread her wings on a Pee-Wee Herman-type kids show.

Following Muir's Montreal release party, she'll play Ottawa's Workshop Studio & Boutique on Friday.

—Erik Leijon