Appearance: [img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/23/08/07/2308079d99d73504d5939f0ca073e853.jpg[/img] Name: Tamaki Kanehara Age: 21 Gender: Female Birth Date: September 13th Sexuality: Bisexual Major: Electrical Engineering Role: Composer, occasionally additional keyboardist. Relationships: (TBD) Personality: Tamaki is quiet and serious. She doesn’t hate conversation but likes to get to the point promptly. When she’s focused on something she can work intensely and get lost in her own world. She’s relentlessly dedicated to her idea of what good art should be and relentlessly tries new things. Her life is often solitary, and she’s been coping with depression since entering college. She’s doing her best to be more open and friendly to overcome these issues, but the process is not always easy. Quirks: Hates the number 13, collects umbrellas Likes/Dislikes: Likes: Experimental music, postmodern and sci-fi literature, rainstorms, tinkering. Dislikes: Art that retreads what’s been done countless times before, small talk, close mindedness. [hider=Some favorite artists] Charles Ives Ryoji Ikeda Toru Takemitsu Iannis Xenakis Pauline Oliveros Ryuichi Sakamoto Yasunao Tone Kaija Saariaho Julia Wolfe Steve Reich Oval Autechre Ametsub Merzbow John Zorn Isao Tomita Sun Ra John Cage Bela Bartok Karlheinz Stockhausen Elliot Carter Eric Dolphy Delia Derbyshire Arnold Schoenberg Boredoms Aube [/hider] Instrument: [url=https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1eZaUC_KLz8/VByvh03jv3I/AAAAAAAAEAU/r2J_3hBs7-8/s1600/DSC00004.JPG]A messy modular synth that she calls “the squid”[/url], sometimes hooked up to MIDI keyboard or her laptop depending on how she’s controlling it for a given piece. Talents: Good at repairing and modifying electronics, can also do a bit of computer coding. Backstory: Tamaki comes from creative household, owing to the fact that both of her parents are visual artists. The trust fund set up by her grandparents ensured that they had trouble earning a living even when their art was not commercially successful. When Tamaki was born, they actively fought to keep her from being “boring” by exposing her to experimental art from an early age. As she got older, it became clear that she was far more interested in music than art. Tamaki particularly loved experimental music because of how diverse it was. She took piano lessons but never liked performing in public or spending time to practice a perfect rendition of piece. Her musical efforts became more focused on composing than performing, and she rarely shared her compositions because most people found them strange and abrasive. Her parents disliked the traditional public school system, so Tamaki went to a smaller private school. The close-knit nature of the school meant that Tamaki had only a small circle of friends. It was there that she discovered another hobby, tinkering with electronics. She combined this with her passion for music by building and modifying effects pedals. When it came time to go to college, she decided to study electrical engineering, knowing that it would be easier to work as an engineer and make music on the side. After entering college, Tamaki grew apart from her old friends as they went their separate ways. She spent her first two years in college in relative isolation, which wore on her as time went on. Tamaki’s depression grew worse, and she began seeing a therapist. Following the advice of her therapist, she joined the music appreciation society. So far Tamaki has done her best to fit in, even finding more appreciation for conventional music and writing some more accessible pieces. She still dislikes live performance and doesn’t consider herself a full member of the band for now, preferring to identify as a frequent collaborator.