A personal crisis can be a curse or a blessing, either plummeting the victim into despair or forcing them into making change for the good. After years as a successful businessman, mathematician, and physicist, Eduard Shyfrin had a crisis that prompted a life-changing revelation. A whole new way of thinking was born as the award-winning scientist embarked on a steadfast pursuit of meanings and purpose, research, and writing bestselling books – all of which has culminated now in his debut album, Shyfrin Alliance.

After performances in Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Berkeley in 2023, San Francisco singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Said Sara, aka David Benson, is coming full circle. Said Sara is a smoldering extension of Benson’s essence—a true itch. As a child of the 70’s, he grew up on the singer-songwriters of that era of emergence: Baez, Stevens, Croce, Taylor, Buckingham, and Mitchell. But Benson was/is a metalhead and a punk (yes, both) in the 80s, 90s, and beyond. In 2008, he joined crust punk-turned-death metal warhorse Acephalix, of which he remains the drummer.

Slim Loris from Stockholm, Sweden, blends Indie Pop/Rock with Americana and a pinch of Swedish melancholy. Formed in 2009 in Stockholm, Sweden, Slim Loris consists of singer/bass player Mattias Cederstam, guitarist Robert Barrefelt, drummer Tobias Lundgren, and singer/guitarist Leon Lindström. As the leading light of Scandicana, the Swedish cousin of Americana, Slim Loris has already received glowing tributes from the likes of Huffington Post and Axs. After releasing three albums, however, the band was forced to take a break, battling collectively through personal setbacks.