Micaela Rachel " Mica" Levi (born February 1987), also known by their stage name Micachu, is an English musician, composer, producer, singer, and songwriter.
Levi studied composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, but left without a degree when their experimental pop band Micachu and the Shapes began to achieve early success. Their debut album Jewellery (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, including Kwes and Tirzah.
In the early 2010s, Levi made their debut as a film composer, creating the widely praised score for Jonathan Glazer's film Under the Skin (2013). Levi received a European Film Award for Best Composer and a BAFTA 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 acclaimed The Zone of Interest (2023) (for which they won the Soundtrack Award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival), and two short films. In 2017, Levi received their first Academy Awards nomination for Pablo Larraín's Jackie (2016). They also worked with director Steve McQueen on his Small Axe anthology film series.
Levi began learning the violin at the age of four and also learned to play the viola as a child. They then won a scholarship place at the prestigious Purcell School for Young Musicians at the age of nine and studied composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London from 2006 to 2009. There, they started an experimental pop band with two friends, keyboardist Raisa Khan and drummer Marc Pell, called Micachu and the Shapes. The name Micachu was a Pikachu reference. They quickly took off, and Levi never finished their composition degree. Performing as a DJ, they also released a mixtape titled Filthy Friends, which was posted on their official Myspace page.
In March 2016, the band announced on social media that they were changing their name to Good Sad Happy Bad. 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 to Shades, 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. Their fifth album, All Kinds of Days, was released on 8 November 2024.
They reunited with Glazer to write the scores for two short films, The Fall (2019) and Strasbourg 1518 (2020). In 2023, Levi composed the score for Glazer's fourth feature film The Zone of Interest. It won the Soundtrack Award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
In 2016, Levi completed their second major film score, for Pablo Larraín's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis biopic Jackie. Larraín had been a juror at the 2013 Venice Film Festival, and thought that Under the Skin deserved a film score prize. Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, also on the jury, was enthralled by Levi's bold score for the film, and he and Larraín spoke passionately of their accomplishment, which led to the collaboration on Jackie. Levi was nominated for Best Original Score at the 89th Academy Awards but lost to Justin Hurwitz for La La Land.
In 2017, Levi worked with their sister, director Francesca Levi, on the soundtrack to The Colour of Chips, an experimental film conceived with Colm McAuliffe as part of The Unfilmables project, produced by Live Cinema UK. That same year, Levi scored the Science fiction film Marjorie Prime and, in association with musicians Demdike Stare and Gruff Rhys, contributed to the soundtrack for artist Phil Collins' Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels which was screened at the Manchester International Festival and then broadcast by the BBC. In 2019, Levi composed the soundtrack for Colombian director Alejandro Landes's Monos. In December of that year it was announced they would be writing the score for the dark-comedy thriller film Zola which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020.
Later that same year, Levi composed the score for Mangrove, the first, feature-length episode of Steve McQueen's Small Axe series for the BBC and Amazon Studios.
They came out as non-binary in 2020.
Jonathan Glazer |
Pablo Larrain |
Michael Almereyda |
Alejandro Landes |
Janicza Bravo |
Jonathan Glazer |
Phil Collins Marisuke Eguchi |
Jonathan Glazer |
Strasbourg 1518 |
In association with Demdike Stare and Gruff Rhys |
Small Axe anthology |
Lovers Rock |
2014 | Under The Skin (Soundtrack)
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2016 | Remain Calm (with Oliver Coates)
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Jackie (Soundtrack)
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2018 | Slow Dark Green Murky Waterfall (with Eliza McCarthy)
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2019 | Monos (Soundtrack)
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2020 | Ruff Dog
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2021 | Blue Alibi
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Zola (Soundtrack)
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2009 | Filthy Friends
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2010 | Kwesachu Mixtape Vol.1 with Kwes.
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2011 | Meat Batch with Kwake Bass
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Chopped & Screwed Mixtape with Brother May
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2012 | Kwesachu Vol. 2 with Kwes.
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2014 | Feeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill
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2023 | Tirzah | all tracks | Trip9love (LP) | Domino | Production |
2021 | Arca | "Muñecas" | Kick II (LP) | XL Recordings | Co-production with Arca |
Tirzah | all tracks | Colourgrade (LP) | Domino | Production, co-mixing with Kwes | |
2019 | Wiki | 'Dame Aquí (feat. Princess Nokia)' | Oofie (LP) | Wikset | Co-production with Alex Epton, Rob Mack and Tony Seltzer |
2019 | Mica Levi | all tracks | Monos (OST, LP) | Invada Records, Lakeshore | Composer, production |
2019 | Brother May | all tracks | Aura Type Orange (LP) | self-released | Production on all tracks; co-production on 'Reppin' with Rob McCormack and 'Backpack Melody' with Coby Sey |
2018 | Tirzah | all tracks | Devotion (LP) | Domino | Production, co-mixing with Kwes |
2018 | Taz & Meeks | 'Obviously' | Taz & Meeks / Brother May / Coby Sey (Compilation EP); Curl Compilation (Compilation LP) | Curl | Production |
2017 | Mica Levi | all tracks | Delete Beach (Single) | DDS | Production |
2016 | Mica Levi | all tracks | Jackie (OST, LP) | Milan Records | Composer, production |
2016 | Mica Levi & Oliver Coates | all tracks | Remain Calm (LP) | Slip | co-production with Oliver Coates |
2016 | Good Sad Happy Bad | all tracks | Mash One / Looking Up at the Sun (Single) | self-released | co-production as part of Good Sad Happy Bad |
2016 | Brother May | all tracks | May & Meeks (EP) | Curl | Production on all tracks, mixing |
2016 | Micachu | all tracks | Taz & May Vids (EP) | DDS | Production on all tracks, mixing |
2015 | Wiki | 'Cherry Tree' | Lil Me (Mixtape) | Letter Racer | Co-production with Sporting Life |
2015 | Tirzah | all tracks | Make It Up (Single) | Greco Roman | Production |
2014 | DELS | 'RGB' | Petals Have Fallen (LP) | Big Dada | Production |
2014 | Micachu | all tracks | Feeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill (Mixtape) | DDS | Composer, production |
2014 | Micachu and the Shapes | all tracks | Good Sad Happy Bad (LP) | Rough Trade | co-production as part of Micachu and the Shapes |
2014 | Tirzah | all tracks | No Romance (EP) | Greco Roman | Production |
2014 | Mica Levi | all tracks | Under the Skin (OST, LP) | Rough Trade, Milan Records | Production |
2013 | Tirzah | all tracks | I'm Not Dancing (EP) | Greco Roman | Production |
2012 | Micachu and the Shapes | all tracks | Never (LP) | Rough Trade | co-production as part of Micachu and the Shapes |
2012 | Kwesachu | all tracks | Kwesachu Vol. 2 (Mixtape) | self-released | Production with Kwes |
2011 | DELS | 'Violina', 'Melting Patterns' | Gob (LP) | Big Dada | Production |
2011 | Micachu hosted by Brother May | all tracks | Chopped & Screwed Mixtape (Mixtape) | self-released | Production |
2011 | Micachu & Kwake Bass | all tracks | Meat Batch (Mixtape) | BTS Radio | Production |
2010 | Micachu & the Shapes with the London Sinfonietta | all tracks | Chopped & Screwed (LP) | Remote Control and Rough Trade | co-production as part of Micachu and the Shapes |
2009 | Kwesachu | most tracks including 'Closer (cover of Ne-Yo's song) ft. The xx' | Kwesachu Mixtape Vol.1 (Mixtape) | self-released | Production with Kwes |
2009 | Micachu and the Shapes | all tracks | Jewellery (LP) | Rough Trade | co-production as part of Micachu and the Shapes w/ Matthew Herbert |
2009 | Micachu | most tracks | Filthy Friends (Mixtape) | self-released | Production |
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