Bright Archer

Johanna Kunin's music is as hypnotic as snow falling on water, at once vast and muted, at once anchored and unmoored. Childhood afternoons spent poring over field guides and humid Minnesota summers whiled away exploring the Boundary Waters cultivated an early fascination with the natural world and her place in it. But instead of becoming a naturalist, Kunin gravitated toward all kinds of music, singing with the Minnesota Opera Company as a child, holing herself up as a teenager playing Chopin, then getting a jazz education during her college years in Seattle. She was in her twenties by the time she began to write songs, happily discovering a medium through which she could combine her interest in the natural world with music. Her first few demos yielded surprising returns, earning her a grant, and bringing her to the attention of producer Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists) who went on to record her first album, Clouds Electric (2006). Declared "one of the best albums of 2006," (Chris Douridas, KCRW), Clouds Electric had Johanna out touring with the likes of Robyn Hitchcock and Horse Feathers. By 2012, she had moved to Portland, OR and released a second record, Hidden Systems, under the moniker Bright Archer, and was beginning a career as a side-woman in other bands like Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Laura Gibson, and Loch Lomond. Although this took her on a needed break from the inward focus of her own music for several years, she continued writing all the while. Now, she looks forward to letting some new songs see the light of day. She plans to make a new recording late in 2016. The music of Johanna Kunin.