Vera Sola

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Vera Sola

| image = VeraSolaDesertNights.png

| caption = Sola in 2017

| birth_name = Danielle Aykroyd

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1989|11|18}}

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| occupation = {{hlist|Singer-songwriter|multi-instrumentalist|poet|actress}}

| instrument = {{hlist|Vocals|guitar|bass|autoharp|keyboards}}

| genre = {{hlist|Folk|indie folk|country}}

| years_active = 2017–present

| label = {{hlist|Spectraphonic|City Slang}}

| website = {{URL|verasola.com}}

}}

Danielle Aykroyd (born November 18, 1989), known professionally as Vera Sola, is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and recording artist.{{Cite web|url=http://diymag.com/2018/09/06/vera-sola-the-colony-neu-pick-watch|title=Vera Sola twists the singer-songwriter rulebook in fascinating directions on 'The Colony'|website=DIY|date=September 6, 2018 |access-date=7 September 2018}} She studied poetry under Jorie Graham at Harvard University. She performed, produced, and arranged everything on her debut album Shades, which was self-released on November 9, 2018.{{Cite web|url=http://floodmagazine.com/54747/premiere-vera-sola-paints-many-shades-of-southern-gothic/|title=Premiere: Vera Sola Paints Many "Shades" of Southern Gothic|website=FLOOD|access-date=28 December 2018}}

Biography

Vera Sola was born Danielle Aykroyd to actor Dan Aykroyd and actress Donna Dixon, on November 18, 1989, in Los Angeles, California. She grew up between New York and Canada. She went to Saint Ann's School (Brooklyn) and graduated from Harvard with a degree in literature. After college, she worked on the radio and as a voice actor. She still provides commercial voice-overs and narration for television and film.

Sola is shy about her family by nature, and decided to distance herself from her recognizable name in order to establish a career in music on her own.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/sd-et-artscal-vara-sola-20180819-story.html|title=Vera Sola, whose debut album is due soon, to perform in San Diego with Rodriguez|last=Varga|first=George|website=Los Angeles Times|date=August 18, 2018 |access-date=7 September 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thewhig.com/entertainment/local-arts/aykroyds-daughter-embarks-on-sola-career|title=Aykroyd daughter embarks on 'Sola' career|last=Hendra|first=Peter |date=September 20, 2018|website=The Kingston Whig-Standard|access-date=28 December 2018}} She has also stated in interviews that, though she is proud of her lineage, she never really liked her name but never got around to changing it. The stage name came about as what she calls a "pretentious, sort of scathing inside joke with myself, albeit with a silver lining of sincerity."{{Cite web|url=https://www.lofficiel.com/pop-culture/vera-sola-princesse-folk|title=Dans le monde mystérieux de Vera Sola, princesse folk|website=lofficiel.com|language=fr|access-date=7 September 2018}}

Music career

She did not consider taking up music seriously until a longtime friend, songwriter Elvis Perkins, encouraged her to join his touring band. She toured and recorded with Elvis throughout and after his "I Aubade" album cycle. She credits Elvis with bringing her on stage and still plays bass guitar among other instruments in his band.

It was not until February 2017 that, after suffering a series of life-changing events, she decided to pursue a solo career in music. She entered the studio to record Shades, and took the name Vera Sola shortly after. Sola performed, arranged, and produced the entire album independently, telling Flood Magazine about the process: “...it's the direct result of my reality, personal and global, going up in a dark and disorienting and sad and often very funny blaze...When I finally talked myself into making it, I thought I’d have friends come in and contribute, but the nature of things drew me ultimately towards playing and arranging it all. So...it’s an unbroken vessel of my own energy, for better or worse. It was pure expression without expectation. I never even planned to release it. But here we are.”

In October 2017, she released an EP of Misfits covers, titled Last Caress, which attracted the attention of industry professionals.

The first single from Shades was self-released through her Spectraphonic label in August 2018, which released the album on November 9, 2018. On it, she plays a number of unconventional instruments, including bones, chains and breaking glass.{{Cite web|url=https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/music/vera-sola-shades|title=Vera Sola – Shades|website=Rough Trade|access-date=28 December 2018}}

Music blog The Line of Best Fit gave the album a 9/10, writing: "Such is the virtuosity and accomplishment of her playing, Shades is bound with the tight-knit swagger of a group of road wearied sessions players. It’s hard to believe it is the work of just one person."{{Cite web|url=https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/albums/vera-sola-shades-album-review|title=On her debut LP, Vera Sola establishes herself as a unique talent|website=The Line of Best Fit|access-date=28 December 2018}} The Sunday Times called her "an undeniably singular talent" and called 'Shades' an essential new release.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/music/article/pop-rock-album-review-marianne-faithfull-negative-capability-k835nwg7r|title=On record: Pop, rock and jazz|last=Davis|first=Dan Cairns, Mark Edwards, Lisa Verrico and Clive|newspaper=The Times |date=November 4, 2018|access-date=28 December 2018|issn=0140-0460}}

French Music magazine Magic{{Cite web|url=https://www.magicrpm.com/|title=Magic : tous les deux mois en kiosques et tous les jours sur Internet|website=Magic RPM}} gave it a 6/6 and named it the number 2 record of the year{{Cite web|url=http://www.magicrpm.com/les-100-albums-de-lannee-2018-selon-magic/|title=Les 100 albums de l'année 2018 selon Magic|date=December 20, 2018|website=magic, revue pop moderne|language=fr-FR|access-date=28 December 2018}} calling it an "absolute masterpiece".

In November 2018, Rolling Stone Magazine named her one of "The Top Ten Country Artists You Need to Know", citing her sense of social conscience and comparing her voice to Nancy Sinatra.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country-lists/10-new-country-artists-you-need-to-know-november-2018-757994/|title=10 New Country Artists You Need to Know: November 2018|last=Moss|first=Jim Beaugez,Jedd Ferris,Will Hodge,David Menconi,Brittney McKenna,Marissa R.|date=November 19, 2018|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=28 December 2018}}

Live performance

Sola's stage presence has been referred to as hypnotic, "captivating; almost hallucinatory".{{Cite web|url=https://www.ravelinmagazine.com/posts/vera-sola-channeling-experience-sound/|title=Vera Sola on Channeling Experience into Sound|date=March 15, 2018|website=Ravelin Magazine|access-date=28 December 2018}} She has been characterized as coming out of a David Lynch film.{{cn|date= January 2023}} Even though she was not very well-known, her 2018 performance at the famed Le Guess Who? festival in the Netherlands received rave reviews. Greek blog ClockSound wrote: "Her personal, theatrical and modern take on Americana and turn of the century (20s, not 21s) music has me hooked from the moment I walked into the Hertz...Her lyricism and the influence poetry have had on this strongly reminds me of – and this is coming from a very big fan – Leonard Cohen."{{Cite web|url=https://clocksound.gr/live/le-guess-who-festival-2018-part-1-eng-1823|title=Le Guess Who? Festival 2018 (part 1 {{!}} eng)|website=ClockSound|language=el|access-date=28 December 2018}}

A live-performance review in Loud and Quiet magazine calls her "a Westworld android gone rogue; a living anachronism, capable of both run-of-the-mill stage banter and of occupying the characters of her songs with full force, moving as if possessed by them as she performs."{{Cite web|url=https://www.loudandquiet.com/interview/vera-sola-paranormal-poetry-and-saloon-tunes-from-a-true-american-history/|title=Vera Sola – Paranormal poetry and saloon tunes from a true American history|website=Loud And Quiet|access-date=10 January 2019}}

Sola has performed with many different musicians and instruments on stage, including a string quartet. She usually plays the guitar, which she plays with a unique finger-picking style.

She toured the United States opening for Sixto Rodriguez, subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man.

Sola performed at the Bombay Beach Biennale in March 2019, a three-day festival of art, music, and lectures in the Southern California desert.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/12/style/coachella-desert-hipsters-salton-sea.html|title=How Much Hip Can the Desert Absorb?|first=Penelope|last=Green|work=The New York Times |date=April 12, 2019|via=NYTimes.com}}

Discography

Studio albums

Shades (2018)
Peacemaker (2024)

Filmography

class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" \|+ Film performances
scope="col" \| Year ! scope="col" \| Title ! scope="col" \| Role
scope="row" \| 1991 \| Nothing but Trouble \| porch person
scope="row" \| 1993 \| Coneheads \| 3-year-old Connie

class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"

|+ Film performances

scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Title

! scope="col" | Role

scope="row" | 1991

| Nothing but Trouble

| porch person

scope="row" | 1993

| Coneheads

| 3-year-old Connie