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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 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 and Tirzah.

In the early 2010s, Levi made their debut as a film composer, creating the widely praised score for '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.


Early life
Micaela Rachel Levi, known as Mica Levi or Micachu, was born in 1987 in , England and grew up in , near . Levi is of descent; their grandfather was a German Jewish violinist who managed to escape from the during World War II and fled to the United Kingdom. Levi was raised in a musical household. Their father, Erik Levi, is a respected music scholar — the director of performance at Royal Holloway which is part of the University of London and an expert on music in the Third Reich — besides being a . Their mother, meanwhile, was a teacher. Levi has a sister, Francesca, who is a video artist and has worked with them on various art projects.

Levi began learning the violin at the age of four and also learned to play the 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 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 reference. They quickly took off, and Levi never finished their composition degree. Performing as a DJ, they also released a titled Filthy Friends, which was posted on their official page.


Music career

Micachu and the Shapes/Good Sad Happy Bad
After dropping out of university, Micachu and the Shapes signed to and Accidental Records. With the Shapes, Levi's focus was experimental pop music. Most of the music prominently featured an acoustic half-guitar with various non-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 to Rough Trade, which released Jewellery on 9 March 2009 to critical praise. The band performed with the London Sinfonietta at Kings Place, London, in May 2010, and in March 2011 released the live recording as the album Chopped and Screwed." Micachu and the Shapes and London Sinfonietta present: CHOPPED & SCREWED", Rough Trade Records. The follow-up to their debut, Never, was released on 23 July 2012. The band then released the album Good Sad Happy Bad on 11 September 2015. "Pop and Jazz Listings and Albums for the Fall Season". New York Times, 7 SEPT. 2015

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.


As a film composer
Levi's first major film score was for 's 2013 film Under the Skin. The film is based on the novel of the same name by 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 that they give a symbiotic quality, in which the aural feels inseparable from the visual. 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 2014 European Film Awards, and tied with for Best Music/Score at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Critics Awards. They were also nominated for the 2015 BAFTA Award for Best Film Music.

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 , 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 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 film and, in association with musicians and , 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 . In 2019, Levi composed the soundtrack for Colombian director '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 and Amazon Studios.


Musical collaborations
Levi is also known for their various collaborations with English singer and songwriter Tirzah, a close friend they met at Purcell. Levi notably produced the Devotion (2018), (2021) and Trip9love (2023) albums.


Solo works
In 2021, Levi released their solo debut album Ruff Dog.


Personal life
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: "I played midfield, although now I think I’d be a striker." In 2016, Levi told in an interview that is their favourite film composer, 's work for The Hired Hand their favourite film score of all time and 's score for their favourite recent film score.

They came out as non-binary in 2020.


List of film scores

Feature films
Michael Almereyda
Jonathan Glazer


Short films
Phil Collins
Marisuke Eguchi
Strasbourg 1518


Television
In association with and
Small Axe anthology
Lovers Rock


Discography

Studio albums
2014Under The Skin ()
2016Remain Calm (with Oliver Coates)
  • Released: 25 October 2016
  • Label: Slip
  • Formats: CD, Digital download, LP
Jackie ()
  • Released: 16 December 2016
  • Label: Milan
  • Formats: CD, Digital download, LP
2018Slow Dark Green Murky Waterfall (with Eliza McCarthy)
2019Monos ()
  • Released: 30 August 2019
  • Label: , Lakeshore
  • Formats: CD, Digital download, LP
2020Ruff Dog
  • Released: 16 December 2020
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: Digital download, LP
2021Blue Alibi
  • Released: 27 January 2021
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: Digital download, LP
Zola ()
  • Released: 1 July 2021
  • Label: Invada
  • Formats: Digital download, LP


Mixtapes
2009Filthy Friends
  • Released: 9 February 2009
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: CD, Digital download
2010Kwesachu Mixtape Vol.1 with Kwes.
  • Released: 5 June 2009
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: , Digital download
2011Meat Batch with Kwake Bass
  • Released: 22 March 2011
  • Label: For BTS Radio
  • Formats: Digital download
Chopped & Screwed Mixtape with Brother May
  • Released: 2011
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: Digital download
2012Kwesachu Vol. 2 with Kwes.
  • Released: 30 April 2012
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: Cassette Tape, Digital download
2014Feeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill
  • Released: 27 November 2014
  • Label: Self-released ( Self-Released)
  • Formats: Cassette Tape, Digital download


Singles / EPs
  • "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)


Production
2023Tirzahall tracksTrip9love (LP)DominoProduction
2021Arca"Muñecas" (LP)Co-production with Arca
Tirzahall tracks (LP)DominoProduction, co-mixing with
2019Wiki'Dame Aquí (feat. )' (LP)WiksetCo-production with Alex Epton, Rob Mack and Tony Seltzer
2019Mica Leviall tracksMonos (OST, LP), LakeshoreComposer, production
2019Brother Mayall tracksAura Type Orange (LP)self-releasedProduction on all tracks; co-production on 'Reppin' with Rob McCormack and 'Backpack Melody' with Coby Sey
2018Tirzahall tracksDevotion (LP)DominoProduction, co-mixing with Kwes
2018Taz & Meeks'Obviously'Taz & Meeks / Brother May / Coby Sey (Compilation EP); Curl Compilation (Compilation LP)CurlProduction
2017Mica Leviall tracksDelete Beach (Single)DDSProduction
2016Mica Leviall tracksJackie (OST, LP)Composer, production
2016Mica Levi & Oliver Coatesall tracksRemain Calm (LP)Slipco-production with Oliver Coates
2016Good Sad Happy Badall tracksMash One / Looking Up at the Sun (Single)self-releasedco-production as part of Good Sad Happy Bad
2016Brother Mayall tracksMay & Meeks (EP)CurlProduction on all tracks, mixing
2016Micachuall tracksTaz & May Vids (EP)DDSProduction on all tracks, mixing
2015Wiki'Cherry Tree' (Mixtape)Letter RacerCo-production with Sporting Life
2015Tirzahall tracksMake It Up (Single)Greco RomanProduction
2014DELS'RGB'Petals Have Fallen (LP)Production
2014Micachuall tracksFeeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill (Mixtape)DDSComposer, production
2014Micachu and the Shapesall tracksGood Sad Happy Bad (LP)Rough Tradeco-production as part of Micachu and the Shapes
2014Tirzahall tracksNo Romance (EP)Greco RomanProduction
2014Mica Leviall tracksUnder the Skin (OST, LP)Rough Trade, Production
2013Tirzahall tracksI'm Not Dancing (EP)Greco RomanProduction
2012Micachu and the Shapesall tracksNever (LP)Rough Tradeco-production as part of Micachu and the Shapes
2012Kwesachuall tracksKwesachu Vol. 2 (Mixtape)self-releasedProduction with
2011'Violina', 'Melting Patterns'Gob (LP)Production
2011Micachu hosted by Brother Mayall tracksChopped & Screwed Mixtape (Mixtape)self-releasedProduction
2011Micachu & Kwake Bassall tracksMeat Batch (Mixtape)BTS RadioProduction
2010Micachu & the Shapes with the London Sinfoniettaall tracksChopped & Screwed (LP)Remote Control and Rough Tradeco-production as part of Micachu and the Shapes
2009Kwesachumost tracks including 'Closer (cover of 's song) ft. 'Kwesachu Mixtape Vol.1 (Mixtape)self-releasedProduction with
2009Micachu and the Shapesall tracksJewellery (LP)Rough Tradeco-production as part of Micachu and the Shapes w/
2009Micachumost tracksFilthy Friends (Mixtape)self-releasedProduction


As featured artist
  • – "Better Days" (2009)
  • Baker Trouble – "Fine" (2010)
  • – "God Hour" (2016)
  • Arca - "Think Of" and "Baby Doll" (2016)
  • – "Marilyn" (2017)
  • Stubborn – "Mid" (2020)
  • bar italia – "letting go makes it stay" (2021)


Awards and recognition
2013British Independent Film AwardsBest Technical AchievementUnder the Skin
2014British Academy Film AwardsBest Original Music
Chicago Film Critics Association AwardsBest Original Score
European Film AwardsBest Composer
London Film Critics Circle AwardsTechnical Achievement Award
Los Angeles Film Critics Association AwardsBest Original Score
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association AwardsBest Original Score
2015ASCAP Film and Television Music AwardsBest Film Score
2016Academy AwardsBest Original ScoreJackie
Austin Film Critics Association AwardsBest Score
Boston Society of Film Critics AwardsBest Use of Music in a Film
British Academy Film AwardsBest Original Music
Chicago Film Critics Association AwardsBest Original Score
Critics' Choice Movie AwardsBest Score
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association AwardsBest Musical Score
Hollywood Music in Media AwardsBest Original Score – Feature Film
Houston Film Critics Society AwardsBest Original Score
London Film Critics Circle AwardsTechnical Achievement Award
Los Angeles Film Critics Association AwardsBest Music
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association AwardsBest Score
2020Platino AwardsBest Original ScoreMonos
Los Angeles Film Critics Association AwardsBest MusicLovers Rock
2023Cannes Film FestivalSoundtrack AwardThe Zone of Interest


External links

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