Justin Grounds

Violinist, singer and electronicist Justin Grounds describes himself as ‘a solitary purveyor of sound’ and yet experiencing him perform live you would be forgiven for imagining an entire orchestra on-stage.

Sending his 5-string viola and (self-named) “cellolino” (strung an octave lower than a conventional violin) through a laptop, feet tapping on all manner of home-made pedals, he builds layer upon layer of rhythms and melodies into what STU magazine called ‘…a holy and magical crescendo.”
Sending these sounds through electronic filters and effects, Grounds sings overtop to produce onstage a sound vital and post-modern and yet also somewhat fragile and ancient.

Given a violin at age 4, Grounds’ childhood of classical training melds together in his music with his time touring and recording with live drum’n'bass act Keiretsu in his early 20s. And within this electronic and acoustic musicality, there is a deep sense of the poetic, a wistful yearning inherited from his current home on the southwest coast of Ireland.

Fiercely independent and no stranger to the road, Grounds has in the last 5 years produced 4 solo records and toured N.America, Europe, China and Australia. He has leant his music to television, radio and film, collaborated with live projectionist Liam Ahern and is a founder member of The Headland Collective in West Cork, a group committed to producing collaborative work and encouraging emerging artists.