Holland native Via Mardot casts a spell with unique instrument

HOLLAND — Via Mardot plays the theremin as if she’s casting a sacred spell.

With hands suspended in a mid-air dance, the Michigan musician finds each seemingly invisible note with graceful dexterity. The result is a haunting melody that whistles its way into the atmosphere.

Mardot, a Holland native, has spent the last few years mastering the unique electronic instrument.

Functioning by way of two metal antennas, the theremin is played without any direct contact from the performer, but rather by hovering one’s hands above it to control frequency and volume.

Mardot's mastery of the odd instrument has caught the attention of legendary artists, including Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters and acclaimed singer-songwriter Glen Hansard.

Both recruited Mardot to join them on tour after coming across her work online. Waters even had Mardot record theremin parts for his much-buzzed-about “Dark Side of the Moon Redux,” released in October.

“I guess I’m always surprised when artists of that level are super kind and sweet people,” Mardot said of working with Waters and Hansard. “They’re both that way. Incredibly kind, giving and just really smart, caring people.”

The boundary-pushing artist was home-schooled in Holland before breaking into the music scene as a teenage singer-songwriter in 2014.

Now based in Ferndale, where she rehearses with her band multiple times a week, Mardot released her new studio album “Fragments” in August and wraps up a headlining East Coast tour Dec. 21.

Her recent work with high-profile artists doesn’t come as a surprise, considering her comments in a 2016 interview.

“What drives me is just the thought of future collaborations,” she said at the time. “That and just the thought of something greater happening in the future.”

In an interview earlier this month, Mardot said she’s never subscribed to anyone else’s expectations of what she can or can't do, or what direction her music should take.

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Instead, she said, she’s focused on “finding balance with work, friends and family."

“I’d like to have a balance but also find that I’m impossibly depressed when I’m not working. I can’t stand it. When I don’t have anything to do it drives me insane. I start going down this big funnel of depression.”

She added being on tour and always on the go means “you don’t really have time to think about anything else."

"You’re kind of in your own separate world from everything else. Then you come back home and you’re like, ‘What do I do now?’ You come down from that high.”

As for future musical projects, Mardot’s mission is straightforward.

“I want to create music that I would listen to myself."

— Find more Michigan music news and concert listings at LocalSpins.com. Email John Sinkevics at john@localspins.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland native Via Mardot casts a spell with unique instrument