marta collica
Sicilian singer-songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Marta is a key member of the band of British composer and producer John Parish (Pj Harvey, Eels etc.), well known also for her long term collaboration with Australian songwriter Hugo Race with their duo, Sepiatone and as one of the founding members of the international collective Songs with Other Strangers together with Cesare Basile, Hugo Race, John Parish, Manuel Agnelli, Stef Kamil Carlens Giorgia Poli Rodrigo D'Erasmo and Steve Wynn.
She lives in Berlin, where she writes and produces her music. Her dreamy voice sounds simultaneously soft and raw and she plays guitar, keyboards and percussions with an original style which weave blues, trip hop and lo-fi Americana into dark sonic textures - seemingly delicate but also distorted - conjuring, through her compositions, cinematic and subtly psychedelic atmospheres.
Her third solo album Inverno (2017) which she co-produced with guitarist and composer Cam Butler, was recorded over a period of two years in Berlin, Melbourne, Paris and Italy and adds to her long, rich history of recordings and collaborations: her two solo albums - About Everything (2009), Pretty and Unsafe (2007) released in Italy and Germany; three albums as duo Sepiatone, most recently Echoes On (2015); four albums with John Parish Band - Screenplay (2013), Plum (2007), Once Upon A Little Time (2005), Bird Dog Dante (2018); four albums with Hugo Race & The True Spirit; the Playing Carver album - a project inspired by the writings of Raymond Carver, written and recorded in Paris with Atlas Crocodile, Marc Chonier (Gaspard La Nuit) and John Parish, and last year's album Silent Town (2016), exploring borders between mediterranean world music and anglo songwriting, recorded with the italo-palestinian band Dounia.
Following a period of experimentation dedicated to her instrumental project Tin Room, together with Dodo NKishi at the percussions (Mouse on Mars), guitar player Deko (Breakfast) and Australian cellist Rachel Maio (Tricky) she is now finishing the production of her new songs.
- "From Palermo to Rancho de la Luna." - Schall Magazine
- "Marta's solo works have a touch of film music, make you think of road movies or David Lynch's haunting masterpieces - with the difference that her songs don't need any elaborate visuals." - Christina Morr, Melodiva
- "Her lyrics are a search for the voice of the streets at night." - SPEX
- "She sounds a bit like a cross between Lisa and Beth Gibbons, but also hints at her main employers John Parish and Hugo Race. A real little pearl, you just don't notice it right away" - Der Neue Tag
- "About Anything" is timeless and blurs the border between musical dreaming and obscurity - MOTOR DE
Live and PROJECTS
live and projects – 2023
Scholarship in Berlin: Musikfonds Strabell Musik (experimental music project, till end of Mai)
21 April Berlin Marta Collica + My Sister Grenadine – Madame Claude
21 Januar Berlin Marta Collica with Band + My Sister Grenadine - Galiläa Kirche
16 Januar Berlin Marta Collica with Band My Sister Grenadine - Schokoladen
live and projects – 2022
Scholarships in Berlin: Musikfonds Tinroom; Gema Kátikáti (ambient and songwriting projects in collaboration with Dodo NKishi)
6 April Berlin – Be an Angel, concert for Ukraine – Weltwirtschaft HKW
live and projects – 2021
10 December UK Album release: Project OO -Touched Musik – Music and composition, together with Dodo NKishi
01–15 November Catania, IT- Catania Sessions: Residency - Fondazione Brodbeck– Music and performances
live
- 202010-11 June - rockumentary" "Songs with Other Strangers"- Skyarte Italia21 February Berlin - Berlinale after party
2
live - 2019
21 August Skopje Makedox Festival
24 March Genk (Be)- AIFF festival
24 March Berlin - Kantine Berghain
22 January Berlin - Renaissance Theater
Best of Resonanzen - die Größe Unplugged Revue
27 January Turin- Seeyousound Festival
Songs with Other Strangers mi2ni live and premiere of the rockumentary" "Songs with Other Strangers"
09 February Berlin - Space Medusa
Nina Hynes - Marta Collica trio with Deko and Rachel Maio
live - 2018
Nov-Dec - Europe and Uk tour with John Parish Band
9 August Mens (FR) - Festival Mens Alors!
with Playing Carver and John Parish
19 Juli Ostrava (CZ) - Colours of Ostrava Festival
with John Parish Band
24 Juni Berlin (DE)- Zimmer 16
12 May Firenze (IT) - House concert
11 May Verona (IT) - Cohen
8 May Ravenna (IT) Lido di Adriano - Cisim
6 May - Firenze (IT) Fabbrica Europa
with John Parish Band
4 May - Lisboa (PT) Indie Lisboa Festival
with John Parish Band
3 May - Porto (PT) Hard Cafe
with John Parish Band
11 März - Offenbach (DE) Hafen2
10 März - Erfurt (DE) private party
28 February Berlin (DE) - Resonanzen 18
with Yoyo Rohm
23 February - Berlin (DE) Deriva
27 January - Halle (DE) RBB Kultur Radio
Live concert and interview
24 January - Berlin (DE) Toast Away
4 January - Berlin (DE) Barbiche
live - 2017
7 April - Firenze Circolo Arci Progresso
8 April - Pergola Villa Tereze
9 April - Terni Caffe Bugatti
12 April - Genova Teatro Bloser
25 Juni - Berlin Rote Salonwith Deko, Rachel Maio, Martina Bertoni, Dodo NKishi
3 Juli - Ancona "La Punta Della Lingua" "Poeti da antologia"Letture di Antonella Anedda e Giampiero Neri
Interventi musicali di Marta Collica (voce e chitarra) e Rachel Maio (violoncello)
6 Juli - Firenze "Estate a San Salvi" Sound and Vision"City Blues" reading, di Vittorio Bongiorno con Marta Collica
8 Juli - Firenze concerto al Gainsbarre di San Salvi
10 Juli - Mantova Arcipelago di Ocno Marta Collica e Rachel Maio special guest Giorgia Poli
20 October - Berlin Schokoladenwith full band
27 November - Berlin Badehaus - a night with Hugo Race, Michelangelo Russo, Mark Steiner, Deko
30 November - Berlin Marie Anoniette
with the Fan Club - a tribute to the Music of Phil Spector
"SONGS WITH OTHER STRANGERS" DOCUMENTARY ON SKYARTE 10/06/2020
INVERNO" GERMAN RELEASE 9/1/17
Inverno is distributed and promoted in Germany by Solaris Empire / Broken Silence
“
Die klingt ein wenig wie eine Mischung aus Lisa Germano und Beth Gibbons, weist aber auch zu ihren Hauptarbeitgebern John Parish und Hugo Race.
Eine Kleine Perle, man merkt es nur nicht gleich
(Der Neue Tag)
Erwähnen muss man´s schon: Marta Collica, Italienerin und Wahlberlinerin, ist Mitglied in der John Parish Band. Ja, PJ-Harvey Produzent Parish. Doch imGrunde ist das mäßig wichtig, denn den vor Leben vibrierenden Sound, den man mit diesem Namen verbindet, bekommt Collica auch selbst hin. Sacht und unprätentiös, mit einer Noir Note, die nie nach Pose, sondern nach aufrichtiger Liebe zum Alleinsein bei Nacht klingt.
(Zitty Magazine)
“
Die klingt ein wenig wie eine Mischung aus Lisa Germano und Beth Gibbons, weist aber auch zu ihren Hauptarbeitgebern John Parish und Hugo Race.
Eine Kleine Perle, man merkt es nur nicht gleich
(Der Neue Tag)
Erwähnen muss man´s schon: Marta Collica, Italienerin und Wahlberlinerin, ist Mitglied in der John Parish Band. Ja, PJ-Harvey Produzent Parish. Doch imGrunde ist das mäßig wichtig, denn den vor Leben vibrierenden Sound, den man mit diesem Namen verbindet, bekommt Collica auch selbst hin. Sacht und unprätentiös, mit einer Noir Note, die nie nach Pose, sondern nach aufrichtiger Liebe zum Alleinsein bei Nacht klingt.
(Zitty Magazine)