Treya Lam

USA | 2021 PARTICIPANT

Treya Lam is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who’s joyously complex identity informs but does not define their work, whether solo or when collaborating with a variety of multidisciplinary ensembles.

Their strident voice, politically charged songwriting and fluent instrumental prowess on guitar, piano and strings recalls Nina Simone and Andrew Bird. Their debut album Good News was created entirely by an all women and gender noncomforming team and released via Kaki King’s label, Short Stuff Records. Lam is currently developing otherland – an audiovisual chamber-folk album on radical self acceptance, intersecting identities and healing in the wake of grief and loss.

Lam is an active member of the Resistance Revival Chorus and has their song Dawn featured on their debut album This Joy – released on Ani Difranco’s Righteous Babe Records. Treya was a resident at Joe’s Pub in 2019 and frequently works with ecotheatre company Superhero Clubhouse. Lam has performed at the Prospect Park Bandshell, MASS MoCA, Greenwood Cemetery, American Museum of Natural History and the New York Public Library. They will make their Lincoln Center debut this June.

“perfectly captures the mixture of love, loss and hope” – Smithsonian Magazine

“Lam is encouraging anyone who has ever felt less than to embrace themselves and to shine their light.” – American Songwriter

“[They] draw you in, hypnotizes you, and all at once you’ll get taken up by a huge tide, a swell that takes you over completely.” – Village Voice