Eliza Niemi

Based in Toronto after a stint on the Halifax scene, Eliza Niemi develops a songwriting that links indie pop, chamber folk and experimental pop in a format often intimate, pierced by cello, keyboards and deliberately offbeat arrangements. First active with the group Mauno, which released Rough Master in 2015, Tuning in 2017 and Really Well in 2019, Eliza Niemi then asserted a solo path with the EP Vinegar in 2019 and then Glass in 2020. Her debut album Staying Mellow Blows, released in 2022, establishes a writing made of flexible melodies, subtle ruptures and a tone at once light and oblique, far from linear pop. In 2025, Eliza Niemi continues in this direction with Progress Bakery, another record included in Polaris Music Prize's longlist after Staying Mellow Blows. Alongside her personal projects, Eliza Niemi also works as a musician and composer, with cello contributions on records by other artists and music written for the film Darkest Miriam in 2024. Her work moves between Canadian indie scenes and tours in North America as well as in Europe.