Chrysalis

Biography

Nostalghia’s music is best described in palate form; a vulnerable outpour of elemental emotional landscape married to its cinema of sound, birthing what is now coined by fans as, “Post-apocalyptic gypsy punk.” California-Iranian native Ciscandra Nostalghia was primarily raised by her Persian mother, Persian and German Grandmother, her sister’s Jamaican and English father, and her Irish and Russian father, who spoke fluent French. Keeping to herself and having difficulty making friends who under...

Nostalghia’s music is best described in palate form; a vulnerable outpour of elemental emotional landscape married to its cinema of sound, birthing what is now coined by fans as, “Post-apocalyptic gypsy punk.”

California-Iranian native Ciscandra Nostalghia was primarily raised by her Persian mother, Persian and German Grandmother, her sister’s Jamaican and English father, and her Irish and Russian father, who spoke fluent French. Keeping to herself and having difficulty making friends who understood the cultural dynamic of her family, Ciscandra found freedom in self-induced entertainment, the music of language, and the sound of diversity, digesting and expelling it in the form of art, galvanizing her solitude into the vulnerable-behind-veil, intimate yet expansive sound of NOSTALGHIA.

Despite the depth of her work as a singer/songwriter, Ciscandra envisioned larger possibility, a grander environment to exorcise her inner demons, and harness her outer hopes. Plagued by the hunger for something more, she placed a tersely worded ad on Craigslist (“looking for the real deal,”/ “do not waste my time.”) soon receiving a response from Roy Gnan, a sleepless Philadelphia native, studied drummer who intuitively understood what NOSTALGHIA was-wasn’t. Together they began recording Nostalghia’s first independent release, “I Am Robot, Hear Me Glitch,” (mixed and mastered by three-time Grammy Award winning, Dave Way) receiving praise for its innovatively unique synthesis of Primal Pop and The Avant-Garde, and accolade as a strong force on the rise.

After much experimentation, Nostalghia settled on a three-piece live band, including Ciscandra Nostalghia herself, Roy Gnan, and Manchester native Cellist Claire Courchene. Best described as, naked beneath lights, Nostalghia transports the audience into a cathartic dimension, riding the universal waves of feeling, intensity, and passion; a journey and movement into the unknown, a spiritual transcendence, and a place where all walks of life can connect to the global understanding of love, pain, struggle, and triumph.

Forcing herself into the uncomfortable pitch of questions regarding life, death, taboo, obsession, entrapment, seclusion, and ultimately complete-chaos, Ciscandra spawned the inner workings of what is soon to be Nostalghia’s (Roy Gnan capturing, and together soundscaping) 2013 widespread release; touching, and at times beating, on the intimacy and affliction of love.

When asked the daunting question, “So what do you hope to achieve?”

Nostalghia responds with a smirk and a wink, “Only everything we’ve set out to do.” Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.