Mica Levi
Levi in 2024
Born	Micaela Rachel Levi February 1987 (age 38) Guildford, England
Occupations	Composer producer singer songwriter
Musical career
Origin	London, England
Genres	Experimental pop noise pop classical electronic film music
Instruments	Viola vocals guitar electronics found objects
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Rough Trade Milan Accidental Slip Curl World Music Hyperdub
Member of	Good Sad Happy Bad
Musical artist
Website	micachu.biz

Micaela Rachel "Mica"Levi^{[pronunciation?]} (born February 1987), also known by their stage nameMicachu, is an English musician, composer, producer, singer, and songwriter.

Levi studied composition at theGuildhall School of Music and Drama, but left without a degree when theirexperimental pop bandMicachu and the Shapes began to achieve early success. Their debut albumJewellery (2009) received enthusiastic reviews and was followed by several more studio albums, with the group changing their name to Good Sad Happy Bad in 2016. Levi has also released solo projects under both the Micachu moniker and their given name, and has frequently collaborated with other artists, includingKwes andTirzah.

In the early 2010s, Levi made their debut as a film composer, creating the widely praised score forJonathan Glazer's filmUnder the Skin (2013).^[1][2][3] Levi received aEuropean Film Award for Best Composer and aBAFTA Award for Best Film Music nomination, and won multiple other awards for this first movie composition. Levi then collaborated again with Glazer on his next film, the acclaimedThe Zone of Interest (2023) (for which they won theSoundtrack Award at the2023 Cannes Film Festival), and two short films. In2017, Levi received their firstAcademy Awards nomination forPablo Larraín'sJackie (2016). They also worked with directorSteve McQueen on hisSmall Axe anthology film series.

Micaela Rachel Levi,^[5] known as Mica Levi or Micachu,^[6][7][8] was born in 1987 inGuildford, Surrey, England^[4][9] and grew up inWatford, nearLondon.^[4][10][11] Levi is ofAshkenazi Jewish descent; their grandfather was a German Jewish violinist who managed to escape from theNazis duringWorld War II and fled to the United Kingdom.^[4] Levi was raised in a musical household.^[4][10][11] Their father, Erik Levi, is a respected music scholar — the director of performance atRoyal Holloway which is part of theUniversity of London and an expert on music in the Third Reich — besides being apianist.^[4][8][11] Their mother, meanwhile, was acello teacher.^{[4][8][10][11]} Levi has a sister, Francesca, who is a video artist and has worked with them on various art projects.^[12][13]

Levi began learning the violin at the age of four and also learned to play theviola as a child.^[4][8][11] They then won a scholarship place at the prestigiousPurcell School for Young Musicians at the age of nine and studied composition at theGuildhall School of Music and Drama inLondon from 2006 to 2009.^{[4][8][9][10][11]} There, they started an experimental pop band with two friends, keyboardist Raisa Khan and drummer Marc Pell, called Micachu and the Shapes.^[8][9][11] The name Micachu was an obviousPokémon reference.^[8] They quickly took off, and Levi never finished their composition degree.^[4][11] Performing as a DJ, they also released amixtape titledFilthy Friends, which was posted on their officialMyspace page.^{[4][8][9][14]}

After dropping out of university, Micachu and the Shapes signed toMatthew Herbert and Accidental Records.^[4][8][11] With the Shapes, Levi's focus was experimental pop music. Most of the music prominently featured an acoustic half-guitar with variousnon-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 their output with the Shapes as "pop music." Their debut album,Jewellery was recorded around Levi's composition studies at Guildhall School. In the wake of growing buzz, Micachu and the Shapes were signed toRough Trade,^[15] which releasedJewellery on 9 March 2009 to critical praise. The band performed with theLondon Sinfonietta at Kings Place, London, in May 2010, and in March 2011 released the live recording as the albumChopped and Screwed.^[16] The follow-up to their debut,Never, was released on 23 July 2012. The band then released the albumGood Sad Happy Bad on 11 September 2015.^[17][18]

In March 2016, the band announced on social media that they were changing their name to Good Sad Happy Bad.^[19] The band then expanded to a four-piece, adding multi-instrumentalist and producer CJ Calderwood and Raisa Khan becoming the band's lead vocalist.

In September 2020, the band announced their return with a new single, "Shades". The track served as the title track toShades, the band's fourth studio album and first under the name Good Sad Happy Bad. It was released on 16 October 2020 via Textile Records.^[20] Their fifth album,All Kinds of Days, was released on 8 November 2024.^[21]

Levi's first major film score was forJonathan Glazer's 2013 filmUnder the Skin.^[22] The film is based on thenovel of the same name byMichel 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^[23] that they give a symbiotic quality, in which the aural feels inseparable from the visual.^[24] The score was widely acclaimed for pushing the boundaries of music and sound design and Levi was nominated for multiple awards. They won Best Composer at the 2014European Film Awards,^[25] and tied withJonny Greenwood for Best Music/Score at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Critics Awards.^[26] They were also nominated for the 2015BAFTA Award for Best Film Music.^[27]

They reunited with Glazer to write the scores for two short films,The Fall (2019) andStrasbourg 1518 (2020).^[28] In 2023, Levi composed the score for Glazer's fourth feature filmThe Zone of Interest. It won theSoundtrack Award at the2023 Cannes Film Festival.^[29]

In 2016, Levi completed their second major film score, forPablo Larraín'sJacqueline Kennedy Onassis biopicJackie.^[30] Larraín had been a juror at the 2013 Venice Film Festival, and thought thatUnder the Skin deserved a film score prize. ComposerRyuichi Sakamoto, also on the jury, was enthralled by Levi's bold score for the film, and he and Larraín spoke passionately of their accomplishment,^[24] which led to the collaboration onJackie. Levi was nominated forBest Original Score at the89th Academy Awards^[31] but lost toJustin Hurwitz forLa La Land.

In 2017, Levi worked with their sister, director Francesca Levi, on the soundtrack toThe Colour of Chips, an experimental film conceived with Colm McAuliffe as part of The Unfilmables project, produced by Live Cinema UK.^[32] That same year, Levi scored thescience-fiction filmMarjorie Prime and, in association with musiciansDemdike Stare andGruff Rhys, contributed to the soundtrack for artistPhil Collins'Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels which was screened at theManchester International Festival and then broadcast by theBBC.^[13][33] In 2019, Levi composed the soundtrack for Colombian directorAlejandro Landes'sMonos. In December of that year it was announced they would be writing the score for the dark-comedy thriller filmZola which premiered at theSundance Film Festival in 2020.

Later that same year, Levi composed the score forMangrove, the first, feature-length episode ofSteve McQueen'sSmall Axe series for theBBC andAmazon Studios.^[34]

Levi is also known for their various collaborations with English singer and songwriterTirzah, a close friend they met at Purcell.^[35][36] Levi notably produced theDevotion (2018),Colourgrade (2021) andTrip9love (2023) albums.^[37][38]

In 2021, Levi released their solo debut albumRuff Dog.^[39]

Besides their musical learning, Levi played a lot of football as a child and even turned up on the first day at Purcell in a football uniform with shin guards:^[8] "I played midfield, although now I think I’d be a striker."^[4] In 2016, Levi told in an interview thatBernard Herrmann is their favourite film composer,Bruce Langhorne's work forThe Hired Hand their favourite film score of all time andCliff Martinez's score forSpring Breakers their favourite recent film score.^[40]

They came out as non-binary in 2020.^[8][41]

• "Taz and May Vids" (2016)(with Tirzah and Brother May)
• "Clothes Wear Me" (2016)(with KEVIN)
• "Delete Beach" (2017)
• "Obviously" (2018)(with Tirzah as Taz & Meeks)
• "Skunk Boy." (2022)
• "slob air" (2024)

• Speech Debelle - "Better Days" (2009)
• Babyfather - "God Hour" (2016)
• Arca - "Think Of" and "Baby Doll" (2016)
• Mount Kimbie - "Marilyn" (2017)
• Stubborn - Mid (2020)
• Bar Italia - letting go makes it stay (2021)

• Official website
• Mica Levi atIMDb
• Mica Levi atAllMusic
• Mica Levi atRough Trade Records
• Mica Levi atAccidental Records

• 1987 births
• Living people
• 21st-century English LGBTQ people
• 21st-century English singers
• 21st-century English guitarists
• English alternative rock musicians
• British people of German-Jewish descent
• British people of Romanian descent
• English experimental musicians
• English film score composers
• English record producers
• English LGBTQ singers
• English LGBTQ songwriters
• English LGBTQ composers
• English non-binary musicians
• LGBTQ record producers
• LGBTQ film score composers
• European Film Award for Best Composer winners
• People educated at Purcell School
• Musicians from Surrey
• Singers from London
• Non-binary singers
• Non-binary songwriters
• Non-binary composers
• Mount Kimbie

• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
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