By: Adam Grant

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NLX Natasha Alexandra - Walking In My Shoes.mp3

NLX Natasha Alexandra-So Far Apart.mp3

Natasha Alexandra has been influenced by a number of things that have almost nothing in common, with the exception of keeping this recording artist inspired.  Growing up in the lunch-pail city of Hamilton, Ontario, Alexandra found her musical hero in industrial rocker Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, as well as the cities in which she'd take up as her habitats.

 It all really started in Grade 8 when at a friend's party Alexandra had her first listen of NIN through the piano heavy track, "Something I Can Never Have."  It would be at this moment that Reznor's brooding lyrics and fearlessness of incorporating lots of random noise within his songs would initially capture Alexandra, eventually leading her toward her own musical direction.  First though, she needed a place to do this.

 After moving out of Hamilton one summer, Alexandra headed into Toronto with a scholarship to the Toronto Dance Theatre, before enrolling at U of T.  But as fulfilling as these experiences may have been, it soon became time to fulfill a childhood dream and take bite out of The Big Apple. 

"I got pneumonia when I was kid almost every year around November - it was like clockwork.  I'd always be sick and watch the Macy's Day Parade at a next door neighbour's house, because my mom and dad worked," remembers Alexandra.  "And the Macy's Day Parade did it for me and I was like 'I want to be in New York City.'  I don't know; I've always had this kind of love for New York.

"I like the feel (of NYC)," she adds.  "I like the people because everyone is here for the same kind of reasons - regardless of what business they're in, they're in it to meet people that are just either as ambitious or creative - it's a very high energy environment."

 Now involved within the New York City music community for about the last year and a half, Alexandra has two albums to show for herself - one being the more multi-instrumental In Your Face, along with the more stripped down, piano/voice focused Behind Your Back - both of which made their way into the public in 2006, and represents two distinctively different sides of Alexandra.

 Her motive behind making this particular move has a lot to do with appeasing the audiences that would check her out within the club circuit.  Noting that it's not always affordable to bring in a backing band, Alexandra had more than a couple requests for recorded, ready-for-sale, toned down material as she played relaxed versions of In Your Face songs -  thus making Behind Your Back a response to what the fans were looking for from her.

"People dig the whole shtick of it - they think, 'oh, In Your Face, Behind Your Back, that's funny,' and then they buy two - but I like the whole contrast, because the music is consistent," says Alexandra.  "It's really sad and dark and really emotional, honest, heavy stuff, but it's just the production that leads it to one side or the other.  I'm still happy with the fact that it is my style, even though one's more toned down.

"(The music) won't be watered down; it won't be, let's write a song and add lyrics that don't have the honesty.  Everything that I write comes from a personal place."

For more information on Natasha Alexandra, please visit www.natashaalexandra.com