London: Verona Conservatory of Music

Verona Conservatory of Music: Raised in British Columbia, the classically trained soprano and multi-instrumentalist was on her way to being schooled toward a career in opera in the U.K. before an immigration screw-up left her high-and-dry and resourcefully faking it for a time as a dubiously credentialed supply teacher in London at the tender age of 17 until she could bully her way into studying oboe at the Verona Conservatory of Music, according to The Star. spoke to Zeffira who played nine instruments on the album and pulled off an inspired cover of My Bloody Valentines hallowed To Here Knows When on top of it all, to boot on the eve of her Thursday night performance at the Drake Underground and Rachel Zeffira took a decidedly circuitous route to becoming this years somewhat-accidental indie-pop it girl. It all worked out in the end, at least, especially after Zeffira partnered with Horrors frontman Faris Badwan back in London and released a striking record of Goth-y girl-group ditties as Cats Eyes in 2011. She and Badwan are but a song or two away from finishing a second Cats Eyes album at the moment, but in the meantime she recently issued a highly regarded solo album of symphonic, shoegaze-inspired ballads and motorik space-outs entitled The Deserters via Paper Bag Records in Canada. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.