As a vehicle for pianist and songwriter, Ida Nilsen, Great Aunt Ida has existed in various shapes and places since 2003, beginning and returning to Vancouver, BC. Influenced by a variety of genres but rooted in the popular song, Nilsen’s writing has been called “intimate and honest”, “warm and spare,” bordering on misanthropic, and “somehow unlike any other girl/piano combo.”
An active member of Vancouver’s music scene in the late 90s and
2000s, Nilsen was also a member of acclaimed “post-rock” group
The Beans, alt-country Radiogram, experimental all-improv group
Cunt, The Gay, The Buttless Chaps, and the Toronto-based Violet Archers. Great Aunt Ida released three albums between 2005 and 2011: “Our Fall” (2005 Hive-fi), “How They Fly” (2006 Northern Electric), and “Nuclearize Me” (2011 Zunior).
