The Mystery Keys

The Mystery Keys play songs by Rachel Lears, who has been writing songs since childhood and teaching herself guitar since not much later. At one stage, for seven years she stopped listening to music by and for middle class white kids, opting instead to study classical flute and avant-garde jazz in college and then a master’s degree in ethnomusicology. Eventually she reconnected with her roots and from 2002-2005 performed and recorded with the electroacoustic synthpop band Hands in Pockets in Brooklyn, NY. The group that became the Mystery Keys began in 2006 in Montevideo, Uruguay and the EP Dance Big People was recorded partly in Montevideo and partly in New York. The current, New York-based group includes Liz Stephens on keyboards, accordion, glockenspiel, and percussion, Ian Peksa on drums, and Rob Christiansen on bass.