Biography

A project that began in 1995, Barzin was a solo endeavor at its inception. Somewhere along the way, however, Barzin shed its solitary skin and introduced a wide array of characters into its sound. Some of the musicians who’ve been involved in this project over the years are Tony Dekker (Great Lake Swimmers), Sandro Perri (Polmo Polpo), Nick Zubeck (Sun Kill Moon) and Diana Planche (The Paint Movement).

Barzin has released four albums to this date. On 2003, Barzin released his self-titled debut album through the Montreal based label, Where Are My Records. In 2006, the second full-length album titled, “My Life in Rooms”, was released through Monotreme Records. “Notes to An Absent Lover” was released world wide in 2009 by Monotreme Records. It was recorded by Don Kerr (Ron Sexsmith, Rheostatics) and Jeremy Darby (Pink Floyd, Lou Reed), and mixed by Chad Irschick and Darryl Neudorf (Neko Case, The New Pornographers). “To Live Alone In That Long Summer”, his fourth album, was released in March 2014 by Monotreme Records and Ghost Records (Italy only). Some of the people involved in the making of this album are Sandro Perri, Les Cooper, Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers. Daniela Gesundheit of Snowblink, Tamara Lindeman of Weather Station and other talented musicians.

Barzin has toured extensively around the world. His albums have been featured in some of music’s biggest publications. Mojo Magazine selected “Notes To An Absent Lover” as their Americana album of the month. Rolling Stone, New York Times and USA Today featured his latest record, “To Live Alone In That Long Summer”. Interviews with Billboard magazine and Exclaim, and features on MTV Italy, Village Voice.com and Salon.com have raised Barzin’s profile around the world. His albums have received 4 star reviews in publications such as Uncut, Q, All Music, Village Voice, The Independent, Chart, Now. His music was chosen as NPR’s song of the day. On tour in Europe, he was selected by the popular music site “La Blogotheque” to participate in their “Take Away Shows” series, which involves shooting a live music video for them to feature on their website. Other artists who’ve participated in this project are Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, Beirut, Tom Jones, The National, and many other popular artists. Barzin has begun working as a producer over the past couple of years. The latest album he was involved in and helped produced was “The Slideshow Effect”, which was the debut album for the band Memoryhouse. The album went on to be released by the prestigious American label, Subpop Records. Currently, he is working on Set Feux’s upcoming album.

Over the past couple of years, Barzin’s music has been featured in several films and documentaries. A song by Barzin was featured in the ABC T.V. series “Wonderland.” as well as on T.V. shows such as “Shattered, ”, “Felicity”, “The Listener”, “Less Than Kind” and the HBO series “Vice Principals.” A major motion picture called “Meno male che ci sei” directed by the Italian film maker, Luis Prieto, used a song from his latest album in the soundtrack. “Nuummioq”, the first international film from Greenland, directed by Torben Bech and Otto Rosing, featured Barzin’s song “Over My Blue” in the soundtrack. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Some of the other places where Barzin’s music has been used are the series ‘Animal Planet’ and in Alan Zweig’s documentary “Lovable”, as well “The Singhampton Project.” Vincent Moon, the filmmaker who has made videos for bands such as R.E.M and The National directed Barzin’s first music video, which debuted on the popular music blog Stereogum. In 2021, Barzin composed the soundtrack for the film “Viewfinder” directed by the British filmmaker, Jason Yeomans.

Barzin’s new album, “Voyeurs in The Dark”, which was five years in making, is set to be released in May 2022 by Monotreme Records.