Andrew Joslyn

Andrew Joslyn, is a Hungarian-American composer, orchestrator,^[1] film scorer,^[2] and violinist in various genres.

Early life and education

Joslyn was born in Pomona, California, but moved to Washington with his family when he was three and grew up on Bainbridge Island. His father is a family therapist and his mother is a Hungarian model, actress and artist. She came over to the United States after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.^[3] Joslyn was raised Zen Buddhist from an early age, and both his parents run the Entsuan Zen^[4] center on Bainbridge. His half-brother^[3][5][6] Chris Kattan is a comedian who was famous for his work on and off Saturday Night Live, which he was active on from 1996–2003.

Joslyn began studying violin at the age of five, with the Suzuki string method, and grew up studying music composition and performance.^[7] Joslyn attended Bainbridge High School, graduating in 2001.^[8] Andrew received his B.A. in English Literature and Violin Performance from Western Washington University in 2005^[9] and his Masters certificate in Music Business from the Berklee College of Music in Boston.^[10] While in college, he took part in studying contemporary music, ranging from rock, folk, fiddle, world, to hip-hop, film, and electronic musical genres.^[7]

Musical career

Joslyn toured and wrote with the Pacific Northwest folk rock band Handful of Luvin’ from 2002–2010.^[11] After the release of their third album Life in Between, he left the band and started his own career as an orchestrator and composer, while working as an A&R manager at a Seattle Indie Record label.^[12][13][14]

In 2008, Joslyn began collaborating with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis on the Vs. EP, the Vs. Redux EP, and the chart-topping album The Heist.^[15] He co-wrote the tracks "Neon Cathedral" and also "Wings", which was used for commercials involving the 2013 NBA All-Star Game.^[16][17]

Joslyn worked with some known musicians, including: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis,^[8] David Bazan^[18] (Pedro the Lion),^[19][20][21] Allen Stone,^[22][23] Ivan & Alyosha,^[24] Mark Lanegan,^[25] Grieves and Budo (Rhymesayers).^[26]

In 2012, Joslyn partnered with Seattle songwriter Kris Orlowski to release the album, Pieces We Are^[27][28] The album reached no. 19 spot on the iTunes Singer-Songwriter charts, and the track "Mountains", was featured on episode 916 of Grey's Anatomy "This is Why We Fight." The album was also voted in the Top 15 EPs of 2012 by New York Music Blog, Wild Honey Pie.^[29]

Joslyn composed and arranged extensively for the Seattle Rock Orchestra.^[30][31] He leads the Neo-classical/Experimental group, The Passenger String Quartet,^[32][33][34] which has backed artists including Duff McKagan,^[35][36] Suzanne Vega,^[37] Daniel Bernard Roumain,^[38] folk legend Judy Collins,^[39][40] and DJ Spooky.^[41]

In early 2013 Andrew was hired to arrange strings and brass for American alternative rock icon Mark Lanegan for Imitations (album). In March 2013, Andrew arranged strings for Duff McKagan's film documentary, "It's So Easy and Other Lies", based on McKagan's book of the same title. The Passenger Quartet played the arrangements live at the Moore Theatre in Seattle along with McKagan and his band. Shortly thereafter, Andrew Joslyn was voted Best Accompanist by the Seattle Weekly^[42] Joslyn left his record label job in late 2013 to work full-time as a composer, arranger and performer.^[43]

In 2014, Andrew Joslyn collaborated with Seattle indie-rocker David Bazan to write the album: David Bazan and the Passenger String Quartet: Volume 1. Bazan and Joslyn toured the album nationally at the end of 2014.^[44][45]

Andrew Joslyn has performed live on TV with Mary Lambert on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on January 10, 2014,^[46] Macklemore & Ryan Lewis at the 56th Grammy Awards on January 26, 2014,^[47] and with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis at the 2015 American Music Awards where they debuted the emotional new song "Kevin", which Joslyn helped co-write^[48]

In October 2016, Joslyn released the lead single of his solo record, "Plastic Heaven," and it was premiered both by Atwood Magazine, and Afropunk publications.^[49][50] In February 2017, Andrew Joslyn released his debut orchestral solo record, "Awake at the Bottom of the Ocean." The record is a stunning collection of genre bending, Orchestral Pop music and features Andrew's songwriting and arrangements along with the vocals of some of the most iconic Northwest musicians and beyond, including Mark Lanegan (Queens of the Stone Age), Shelby Earl, Adra Boo (Fly Moon Royalty), Will Jordan, Billy McCarthy (Augustines), Eric Anderson (Cataldo) and Susy Sun. Early features in Paste, Afro-Punk, City Arts, Yahoo Music, The Seattle Weekly and support from Seattle's taste-maker, KEXP, paved the way for a very successful first release. Paste Magazine gave the record a 9/10 rating.^[51][52] The record was in the top 50 records on KEXP's variety charts, and top 3 of the Northwest charts.^[53][54]

Andrew Joslyn is also a film composer, and worked on the comedy drama feature-length film "Always Learning" (2013),^[55] and the film shorts "Always"^[56] and "The Roar"^[57] by director Monish Gangwani. In 2017, Joslyn composed an original score for his first feature-length film, "American Violence", starring Denise Richards, Bruce Dern, and Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau.^[58]

Discography

He is listed as songwriter/composer on nearly fifty recordings in the BMI database.^[59]

2017 - Kesha (Praying) - Songwriter^[60]

2017 - Andrew Joslyn (Awake at the Bottom of the Ocean) - Composer, Producer^[61]

2016 - Chris Staples (Golden Age) - String Arrangement, Viola, Violin^[62]

2016 - Augustines (Augustines) - Strings^[63]

2016 - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (This Unruly Mess I've Made) - String Arrangements, Strings, Composer

2015 – Roger Lion (Roger Lion) – String Arrangements, Strings^[64]

2015 – Lotus Crush (Rabbit Hole) – Strings^[65]

2015 – Susy Sun (Demons (Acoustic) Single)– Strings, String Arrangement^[66]

2015 – Susy Sun (Any Other Way (Acoustic) Single) – Strings, String Arrangement^[66]

2015 – Susy Sun (That's Just Life) – Strings^[66]

2014 – Augustines (Augustines) – Violin^[64]

2014 – Craft Spells (Nausea) – Viola, Violin^[64]

2014 – Grieves (Winter & The Wolves) – Strings^[64]

2014 – Blake Lewis (Portrait of A Chameleon) – Violin^[64]

2014 – V. Contreras (V. Contreras) – horn arrangements, string arrangements, viola, violin^[67]

2014 – Vaudeville Etiquette (Debutantes & Dealers) – string arrangements, violin^[68]

2014 – My Goodness (Shiver + Shake) – Strings^[64][69]

2014 – Kris Orlowski (Believer) – Orchestration^[67]

2014 – David Bazan + The Passenger String Quartet (Vol. 1) – Violin, composer^[64]

2014 – Mary Lambert (Heart On My Sleeve) – Violin^[70]

2014 – Tuatara (Underworld) – Strings, String arrangements^[71]

2013 – Mark Lanegan (Imitations) – String arrangements, viola, violin

2013 – Budo (The Finger & The Moon) – Violin^[72]

2013 – Susy Sun (Wanderlust) – Violin, String Arrangement

2013 – Kevin Long (Buena Vista) – Violin, string arrangement^[73]

2013 – Mary Lambert (She Keeps Me Warm) – String Arrangement, violin^[64][70]

2012 – Eric Tingstad (Badlands) – Violin^[67]

2012 – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (The Heist) – composer, percussion, viola, violin, vocals^[64][67]

2012 – Sol (Yours Truly) – Violin^[74]

2012 – Lerin Herzer and Andrew Joslyn (The Girl and the Ghost) – Violin, viola, composer^[59]

2012 – Kris Orlowski and Andrew Joslyn (Pieces We Are) Orchestration, violin, viola, percussion^[64]

2011 – Grieves (Together/Apart) – Strings^[64]

2011 – Kris Orlowski & The Passenger String Quartet (Live at the Fremont Abbey EP) – composer, violin, string arrangements^[71]

2010 – The Halyards (Fortune Smiles) – Violin^[64][67]

2010 – Eclectic Approach (Jump Into Life) – Violin^[67]

2010 – Handful of Luvin’ (Life In Between) – electric 5 string violin, composer

2007 – Handful of Luvin’ (Land of Giants) – electric 5 string violin, composer

2005 – Handful of Luvin’ (Balance) violin, composer^[64]

References