At 26, Nathan Leigh has made a name for himself as a prolific composer, inventive producer, and energetic performer. Mixing folk, punk, classical, electronica, and world elements, Nathan draws from a wide array of influences to create unique musical atmospheres and soundscapes. As the singer and guitarist for Boston indie / latin duo A Thousand Ships and Brooklyn’s synth-pop quartet Super Mirage, Nathan has performed at some of the Northeast’s best venues including The Middle East, Copperfield’s, Felt, The Webster Theatre, and Piano’s. As a composer and sound designer, Nathan’s work has graced the stages of theatres across the country including the Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Berkshire Theatre Festival, PS122, Speakeasy Stage Company, and Connecticut Repertory Theatre. He has collaborated with Kyle Jarrow on the scores for Big Money, The Consequences, and the forthcoming Grimm, and is currently at work on a re imagining of Peter Pan with book writer Jesse Geiger. Gothamist named him Best Sound Designer of 2007 for his work on The Debate Society’s The Eaten Heart.
Since getting his start playing in the bands Cooper and Silent Orbit in college, Nathan has juggled playing in bands with his full time career in theatre. In 2004, Nathan began collaborating with flamenco guitarist and drummer to form the duo A Thousand Ships. The two remained committed to their DIY ethos, organizing concerts, recording and releasing their own music on the self-run Keroscene Records, and often even building much of their own gear. After a year of performing weekly, Victor moved to Paris, putting the band on indefinite hiatus. Nathan immediately started work on his first full length solo record, Quicksand, which he released in early 2005. At the same tame, Nathan began collaborating again with bassist Mike Delatizky of Cooper in the band The Abatements. In March of 2005, the staff at Purevolume.com selected Nathan as a PurePick and awarded him a lifetime Pro membership.
After the release of Nathan’s second full length A Fine Disaster in 2006, he took a break from recording and performing to focus on his career in theatre. He quickly established himself within the Boston theatre scene and became the sound designer and composer in residence for Boston Theatre Works (06 – 08), The Debate Society (06 – Present), The Brown / Trinity Consortium (07 – 08 season), Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre (07 – Present) and the guest sound designer for Tufts University (06 – present). In addition he has composed the scores to several short films including the award winning Twelve Boston (2008). Since 2006, Nathan has worked on an average of 30 productions each year in theatres across the country.
In 2007, Victor returned and the duo reconstituted A Thousand Ships. At the same time, Nathan began collaborating with Obie Award winning playwright and composer Kyle Jarrow to form the band Super Mirage (originally Sputnik Sweetheart). With two full-time electric bands, Nathan began recording acoustic material for a new solo record. Over nearly 2 years, Nathan recorded over 30 tracks before whittling it down to the 14 that would become Tell Me Something Honey. As Kyle and Nathan continued to work on material for Super Mirage, they were offered a writing fellowship from the Williamstown Theatre Festival to develop a new piece together. That play would become their first co-written musical, Big Money. They quickly followed with their second piece, The Consequences, and are currently writing their third, Grimm. In the fall of 2009, Keroscene Records released Nathan’s solo EP titled Glitch as well as A Thousand Ships’ self-titled debut album. Nathan is currently at work on a series of solo EPs to be released each month in 2010, and finishing production for Super Mirage’s full length debut album.