Vancouver-based singer-songwriter, Erica Mah, is learning to play the guzheng, a classical chinese zither, but with a western folk twist.   Experimenting with different tunings for the 21-stringed instrument, she is merging different worlds of music to achieve a truly unique sound.  In collaboration with Darcy McCord, cellist for The Burning Hell, The Sargasso Season is a series of songs composed for the two instruments that explores transoceanic journeys.

Erica Mah's solo songwriting career on the piano, guitar, and ukulele have taken her on many adventures since she first left her hometown of Smithers, BC.   In Toronto, she learned how to waltz on ragtime bar pianos.  In San Andres Itzapa, Guatemala, she learned how to two-step on a twenty-dollar guitar.  She keeps a sketchbook of pen & ink drawings that document the places she has been, and writes songs about the north, the city, and everything in between.  Erica met Darcy while working on her second album, The Harbour Commission.   The two were a perfect musical match, both coming into the indie/folk scene with a classical music background.