about alfa...
Armed with a voice and a keen sense of crafting a song, Alfa Garcia is “an artist who has a spectrum of colors in her palette, a songwriter with a knack for tickling a mainstream ear.”
(Music Connection Magazine, Jan 2014)
"If you could take the 'Friday Night Lights' meme, 'clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose' and turn it into a person, you'd get pop-folk singer Alfa Garcia."
(Candy Magazine, Jan 2014)
Born in the Philippines to a family of music-lovers, Alfa got an early start in classical piano and violin, but gravitated to less structured forms as a preteen growing up in suburban New Jersey. After teaching herself guitar, she cut her first demo at 15 and was hooked on songwriting ever since. Her years at NYU were spent gigging in New York City, and she soon found herself on larger stages across the country. After school, Alfa worked as a newspaper journalist while releasing an EP (Growth) and her first full-length record (Second Skin). But the full-time grind didn't jive with her need to write and perform; she left her job in 2011 and moved to Los Angeles, releasing a Kickstarter-funded album, "World Go Blue," which reached the 2013 CMJ Top 200 National Airplay charts and was followed by US college tours.
Four years after her relocation, Alfa signed with Pacific Records and landed an international distribution deal with Ivory Music in Asia. Alfa is now recording her self-produced album "Spark & Fury" with Grammy-winning engineer Alan Sanderson (Switchfoot, Fiona Apple, Jewel), mix engineer Kenji Nakai (Tom Petty, Red Hot Chili Peppers), and Hollywood boutique studio Block of Joy. In the meantime, her single "Blue" has garnered over 65,000 Spotify plays after landing a spot on Spotlight on 2016 - Philippines, a playlist that curates upcoming artists to watch. Back Stateside, Alfa was featured in Music Connection Magazine's Favorite Signings of 2015 and was an opening act for pop sensation Sam Smith at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego. Earlier that year, Alfa toured her native Philippines for the second time and landed the song "Bergenfield, NJ" in the films Baby Steps (from the producer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Old Fashioned (Skoche Films).
DISCOGRAPHY
Spark & Fury (2016)
The Idle Hours EP (2014) - produced by Marc Lacuesta & Alfa Garcia (Nashville, TN)
World Go Blue (2013) - produced by Marc Lacuesta (Nashville, TN) & Paul Wight (Los Angeles, CA)
Second Skin (2009) - produced by Alex Houton (Red Bank, NJ)
Growth EP (2007) - produced by Dan Coutant (Paramus, NJ/Queens, NY)
"World Go Blue" and other projects...
"World Go Blue" was a landmark for Alfa, expanding her depth sonically and professionally. It was recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles, under the helm of Grammy-nominated producer Marc Lacuesta (Point of Grace, Francesca Battistelli) and Paul Wight (Kawehi). "World Go Blue" features top Nashville musicians Tim Lauer (The Civil Wars, Brett Dennen), Tony Lucido (Hunter Hayes, Kelly Clarkson), Ben Phillips (Blake Shelton, Plumb), and Mike Payne (Natalie Grant, Sidewalk Prophets), as well as L.A. percussionist Nick Adams (David Cook). In August 2014, Alfa teamed up again with Lacuesta to release a pop-country EP of co-written songs as The Idle Hours. This 5-track EP features songs written between 2011-2012 and recorded in Nashville. In April 2015, The Idle Hours debuted a storybook illustrated music video for their song, "The Road."
Many of Alfa's songs can be heard on E!’s “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”, MTV’s “Friendzone” and "Real World/Road Rules Challenge."
Inspired by the gray area between biography and fiction, Alfa weaves detailed stories into catchy melodies, crafting memorable songs that touch on everything, from everlasting numbers (“The Pi Song, 3.14159265358…”) to a tragic love story told in multiple acts (“Love as Tragedy: A Play in 3 Acts”), to an exploration of loss ("God Writes Happy Endings"). In 2014 and 2012, Music Connection Magazine placed Alfa in their Top 25 Music Critiques of each year, comparing her style to songwriters Ingrid Michaelson, Regina Spektor, and Sara Bareilles. In addition, her music has received honorable mention from the New York Songwriters Circle (2009) and she was the Grand Prize winner at Kollaboration (Acoustic), an Asian-American talent competition held at the Ford Amphitheater in Hollywood in 2009.
An intimate live show features Alfa’s singular vocal style and a revolving door of instruments – from guitar, to piano, to ukulele, to kazoo. In addition to Sam Smith, she has shared the stage with Us the Duo, Howie Day, The Rembrandts, and YouTube stars David Choi, AJ Rafael, and Clara C.
In 2016, 2015 & 2013, Alfa toured her native Philippines, playing malls and venues like the SMX Convention Center, 19 East, Aracama, SM Mall of Asia, and making appearances on Myx Philippines and Net25. Alfa also gave on-air performances on Mellow 94.7, Magic 89.9’s nationwide radio show, Boys Night Out, 99.5 PlayFM, and Y101 in Cebu City. She has teamed up with Kawai, Radio Republic, Ukulele Philippines, Blender, and Lyric Music Stores to play shows throughout Metro Manila.
Alfa endorses Kawai Pianos, Mya-Moe Ukuleles, Washburn, D'Addario, Hamilton Stands, and Fishman.
