Mike Sim is a Boston based multi-media artist that uses video and music. Stylistically, the music he makes falls somewhere between folk, hip-hop, & electronic music using guitar, singing, and electronic instruments.
In 2012 he released his debut, the “Kaleidoscope EP,” (a collage of mini-songs) and later that year his first multi-media work, the collaborative record “Neighborhood 29,” which uses photography & field recordings from young people living in the Fushe Kosove area of Kosovo. He began playing multi-media sets in 2013 using video samples ranging from manipulated 90s commercials & cartoons, home videos, and kaleidoscopic visuals. Since then, he has continued to play live sets primarily around the New England area.
He released his first solo multi-media piece “Initiation” in 2016 and has been releasing audio & multi-media albums since, including his reimagining of Twin Peaks, “Swiper” (an album based on online dating & dating apps), and more journalesque releases such as “Eternity in Hell is a Long Time” & “Mirror.” In the summer of 2020, he released the visual album “<3,” which is the first of four releases in an album cycle (each of which correlates with a season).
Within the last ten years, Mike Sim has collaborated with many musicians, filmmakers, & dancers. In the early 2010s he wrote & performed in the instrumental-rock group Koala with Kenyon Kowal, James Krivchenia, & Orion Boucher, releasing the cinematic post-rock oriented record “Xibalba” & the orchestrated dream-scape album “We Are Like the Spider. We Are Like the Dreamer.” In 2010 he again collaborated with Kenyon Kowal for the duo record “Depart, Distance, Difference.” In 2019 he began performing, recording, & producing music with Hannah Jay. He has recorded and performed with Holiday Mountain, Bix Macmaghan & the Governor Generals, Fractiallian, and many others.
His influences include Steve Reich, David Lynch, Philip K Dick, Charlie Kaufman, The Books, Kate Bush, René Magritte, Stereolab, Radiohead, Andrei Tarkovsky, Salvador Dali, Death Grips, Phil Elverum, Stan Breakage, Tool, Alex Grey, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Talking Heads, Autechre, A Tribe Called Quest, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Pauline Oliveros, Battles, Kurt Rosenwinkel, MFDoom, Sam Amidon, & Leos Carax.