Artist Page: http://www.youtube.com/jenimagana
Jeni Magana's voice is one that I could listen to all day and never, ever tire of. I find myself playing her songs over and over again just to hum along. There are traces of Regina Spektor and Nora Jones but there is something just... 'Jeni' to them! Ryan first met Jeni (also Berklee alum) at a party about six years ago. A few years later, while working on a Berklee project, he randomly stumbled across her haunting backup vocals on the song Heart Strings (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbqlnEGmGwA&feature=related) with Will Knox.
I don't remember exactly how we ended up finding it but Jeni had this really great song (http://www.ourstage.com/tracks/UEACAGHKONVV-vertigo) and once Ryan heard it, he was determined to work with her. This led to several collaborations, some can be found on www.ourstage.com/search?search=Jeni+Magana and some will be heard on the soon to be completed Skycase album. She is unbelievably modest about her many talents and is also really nice (bonus!). If you ever get a chance to see her perform live I strongly encourage you to go say hello.
"I had been secretly writing songs for years, but kept finding excuses not to play them for anyone except my mom. She seemed to like them..so eventually I decided it was time to branch out to a slightly wider audience."
Please, please check out Jeni's music and ready yourself for the release of her beautiful album early this fall! (http://www.youtube.com/jenimagana)
Official Hink Questionnaire
If you could go anywhere, where would you like to travel?
I want to move to France and work at Eurodisney. Apparently I'm too short to be a princess but I'm sure I could find something...and eventually learn French.
Who is your biggest artistic inspiration?
deathcab for cutie. I'm inspired by the idea that you can still sing sweet and care so much about lyrics while being in a rock band.
What artistic tool could you not live without?
Some sort of recording device. Literally, any sort of recording device. I have the worst memory in the world. If i didn't have that, I could still write songs but I would forget them all.
What was your favorite school lunch?
My first two years of high school I had a strawberry cheesecake muffin and a chocolate milk every day for lunch. I looked forward to it every day. ...I have since extended my palette slightly.
Thanks Jeni!