Biography
E.S.L. is a Canadian folk-pop band from Vancouver, British Columbia. The current lineup is Marta Jaciubek-McKeever (previously of Fan Death), Diona Davies (of Geoff Berner's band and previously of Po' Girl), Tess Kitchen and Joy Mullen.
The group formed in 2005 when Marta Jaciubek- McKeever (Polish-born pianist and singer of Girl Nobody) and Cris Derksen (half-Cree cellist) found musical kinship in each other. Joy Mullen joined on drums (The People Verses) soon after and fiddle-playing Diona Davies (Po’ Girl, Carolyn Mark) eventually rounded out the quartet. All other members provide harmonies to lead singer Jaciubek-McKeever. The group released a full-length album, Eye Contact, in 2008. In May 2016, they released an EP, Heart Contact.
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The band has performed at many notable Canadian festivals. 2012 saw the group perform at Vancouver Folk Music Festival alongside Dan Mangan and The Head and the Heart.
Both Jaciubek-McKeever and Davies have been classically trained on their instruments since the age of four, as was Mullen, who studied performance and jazz drumming. Derksen graduated from UBC with a Performance Degree in Cello and has been a session musician for such established acts as Kanye West and Tanya Tagaq.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.