Vian Izak is a South African American singer-songwriter, record producer, and

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

. He created an animated alias to maintain his anonymity online. Izak's artist project is part of the virtual band movement popularized by acts such as the

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band formed in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, from London. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: 2-D (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, ...

and The Archies in where the members of the group are portrayed as animations. He has worked with artists Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Keith Getty, and

Kristyn Getty Kristyn Elizabeth Rebekah Getty ( Lennox, born 22 May 1980 in Belfast) is a Northern Irish Christian singer and songwriter. With her husband, Keith Getty, she has co-written many award-winning songs and hymns that have charted on multiple US B ...

. He is known for his songs "The London Air Raids" and "Revolver." He also owns and operates his own independent

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

called Vohnic Music LLC in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. The record label is part of the

Merlin Network Merlin is a digital rights music licensing partner for independent record labels, distributors, and other music rights holders around the world. It was founded in 2007 with Charles Caldas as the chief executive. In January 2020, Jeremy Sirota ste ...

which is the world's fourth largest music rights holder after

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

, and the

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

2015–2019: Early career and music

Vian is a South African immigrant who moved to the United States in 2000. His love of songwriting started out of a need to communicate as English was not his native language. He cites U2, Coldplay, and

Death Cab for Cutie Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Zac Rae (keyboar ...

as early influences. As a young man he moved to

and opened a recording studio on the historic Music Row. Izak brought an international sound to the Nashville music scene which made him stand out. This is exemplified in his collaborations with Grammy winning South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo on "Brink of Love" and with Italian composer Davide Rossi on "Sangre de Cristo". He combines his music with the illustrations of his brother to create multimedia comic stories. His first multimedia release, Northern Anthems (2018), was nominated for numerous awards including two Independent Music Awards. Music streaming platform

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

also highlighted the release as a unique project from Nashville.

2020: Music and COVID aid

In March 2020 Vian worked with

U.S. Bancorp U.S. Bancorp (stylized as us bancorp) is an American bank holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and incorporated in Delaware. It is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, and is the fifth largest banking institution i ...

to release a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

television advertisement using his song "Things Will Get Better" encouraging people to stay hopeful in hard times. The advertisement was played nationally in the United States. Additionally, Izak released a music video for his song "The Navigator" thanking healthcare workers for their bravery during the pandemic which received over fifty thousand views on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Discography

Albums

* Northern Anthems (Album, 2018) * The Navigator (Album, 2019) * The Navigator (Deluxe Edition) (Album, 2020)

EPs and singles

* Revolver (Single, 2016) * ''Brink of Love'' (EP, 2016) features Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Eliza Ramgren * ''Revolver Remixes'' (EP, 2016) single charted on Spotify's Viral Charts in Canada at #19. * ''The Astronaut'' (EP, 2017) * ''The Astronaut Acoustic'' (EP, 2017) * Will I Find My Home (Single, 2017) * ''Starlit Summer's Eve'' (EP, 2017) * ''Till Your Heart is Still'' (EP, 2017) * ''The London Air Raids'' (EP, 2017) * ''Marble Floors'' (EP, 2017) * ''Little Lost'' (EP, 2017) * ''City of Love'' (EP, 2017) * ''Starlit Summer's Eve (Noble Remix)'' (Single, 2018) * ''Till Your Heart is Still (Parkwild Remix)'' (Single, 2018) * ''Save My Heart'' (Single, 2018) * ''Can you Feel My Love'' (Single, 2018) * ''Witchcraft'' (Single, 2018) * ''Lover's Hill'' (Single, 2018) * ''The London Air Raids (Michael Schaewel Remix)'' (Single, 2019) * ''Threw a Stone'' (Single, 2019) * ''Morning Star'' (Single, 2019) * ''Light Up'' (Single, 2019) * ''Midnight Dance'' (Single, 2019) * ''The Guide (feat. Dan Russo)'' (Single, 2019)

Live releases

* ''The Astronaut - Live 2017'' (Single, 2018)

Production, songwriting, and engineering credits

Chart positions

{, class="wikitable" , - ! Rank Date ! Rank ! Peak ! Song ! Platform ! Chart ! Country , - , June 7, 2020 , 10 , 10 , Threw a Stone , Apple Music , Singer Songwriter , Panama , - , March 20, 2020 , 122 , 41 , Call the Nightingale , iTunes , Alternative , Italy , - , March 20, 2020 , 123 , 42 , As You Healed / The Guide , iTunes , Alternative , Italy , - , March 20, 2020 , 124 , 43 , The Navigator , iTunes , Alternative , Italy , - , July 12, 2019 , 187 , 187 , Mostly , iTunes , Singer Songwriter , Canada , - , February 16, 2019 , 51 , 28 , Revolver , iTunes , Pop , Brazil , - , February 16, 2019 , 91 , 75 , Revolver , iTunes , All Genres , Brazil , - , May 14, 2018 , 19 , 14 , Revolver (I the AI Remix) , iTunes , Dance , New Zealand , - , April 12, 2018 , 149 , 149 , Revolver , iTunes , Pop , Switzerland , - , May 10, 2017 , 107 , 107 , Revolver , iTunes , Singer Songwriter , Australia , - , April 29, 2017 , 47 , 47 , The Astronaut (Acoustic Version) , Spotify , Most Viral , Ireland , - , December 16, 2016 , 36 , 36 , Revolver , iTunes , Singer Songwriter , Mexico , -

Awards

, - , 2018 , , Vian Izak - Starlit Summer's Eve , , Independent Music Award for Best AC Song , , , - , 2019 , , Vian Izak - Northern Anthems , , Independent Music Award for Best AC Album , , , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Izak, Vian American audio engineers American male singer-songwriters American people of South African descent Record producers from Tennessee Living people Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee Year of birth missing (living people) Singer-songwriters from Tennessee