ArtistInfo

Andria Degens

voc, GB
Classical, Electronic and Rock
A.k.a. Andria Tibet Pantaleimon

Andria Degens was born in England. Her parents moved around frequently (her father was a navigational engineer), but she found a measure of stability in music and books from an early age: she’d spend hours a day listening to her mother’s record collection and playing with a Casio keyboard and nylon string guitar. She was also a bookworm, often disappearing into another world for long periods of time. During her early twenties, Degens sold everything and took to the road, traveling two and half years through South East Asia. Following some very deep spiritual experiences Degens began to play music with a new sense of purpose. When she arrived back in England, she started making experimental recordings, and in time adopted the name “Pantaleimon.” The name “Pantaleimon” was inspired by Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy. The name means “all merciful.” Her work drew from a diverse range of influences such as Brian Eno, Can, Neu, Mississippi Fred McDowall, Eden Ahbez, Djivan Gasparyan, Kate Bush, Nico, David Bowie, Soundgarden, Vedic Chanting, and Mozart as well as authors like Orson Scott Card, Wilhelm Reich, Peter Reich, Jostein Gaarder, C.S. Lewis, Erik Linklater, Dick Gregory, Joseph Massey, Rabindranath Tagore, Paramahansa Prajnananda and Paramahansa Yogananda. Degens wrote and recorded some minimal instrumentals for Appalachian dulcimer and bouzouki which came to the attention of Christoph Heemann, who invited her to record properly at his studio in Germany; this became her first album, Trees Hold Time. This strange, otherworldly record was very well received upon its release in 1999 with Antony of Antony and the Johnsons saying, “I love Trees Hold Time. Andria has a lovely pure voice and her spirit is evident in her work. What a soulful collection!” Since then, her growth as an artist as well as spiritually has been ongoing, reaching a new high point on The Butterfly Ate The Pearl. Along the way, Pantaleimon has been honored to share stages with a host of amazing artists including Six Organs of Admittance, 16 Horsepower, Lightning Bolt, Bonnie Prince Billy, Antony & the Johnsons, and James Blackshaw among others. Before releasing her first work as Pantaleimon, Degens appeared on The Dirty Three’s Horse Stories, singing on the title track with Warren Ellis, and in 1992 she played guitar as part of the “Wall Of Noise” show hosted by the band Wire at the Clapham Grand. More recently, she collaborated with Strings of Consciousness and Lüüp on their latest releases From Beyond Love and Meadow Rituals respectively. She has worked closely with L.A. based film director Cam Archer over a number of years, providing narration for a series of his short films, and her music appeared on the soundtrack to his critically acclaimed feature film Wild Tigers I Have Known. In 2013, Degens worked with American animator Eric Leiser on her video singles “If I (Was)” and “Ember.”

Genres

• Classical
• Electronic
• Rock
• Jazz
• Folk

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