Isabeau Waia’u Walker has had to get creative when defining her sound, offering descriptions like “bright gloom,” “joy adjacent,” and “island of broken, demented toys.” A native of Hawaii, she has spent the latter half of her life in Oregon’s Pacific Northwest, always tethered to the Pacific Ocean—whether at home or on the road. When she’s not touring as a backup vocalist with Y La Bamba, she remains deeply connected to the places and people that shape her music.
Her songwriting is inextricably woven with reflections on race, culture, gender, and class—songs of love, community, resilience, and self-discovery. She carries an attractive vulnerability and sincere humility, despite the undeniable power of her performances.
In 2019, she left a career as a full-time secondary school teacher to fully embrace music, releasing her EP Better Metric in 2020, followed by her debut LP Body in 2022, recorded with engineer and bandmate Ryan Oxford at The Center for Sound, Light, and Color. Her work has since garnered attention from OPB, Live Wire Radio, Vortex Music Magazine, Willamette Week, KEXP, and more.
Now, after a year of dedicated creation, Isabeau is preparing to release her highly anticipated third album, Heavyweight, in 2024.
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