Jessica Moss
Jessica Moss is a Canadian violinist, composer, and singer based in Montreal, renowned for her contributions to experimental and ambient music over more than two decades. Best known as a longtime member of the post-rock band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, where she played violin and provided backing vocals since its inception, Moss has also co-founded the folk ensemble Black Ox Orkestar and collaborated extensively with artists such as Vic Chesnutt, Carla Bozulich, Guy Picciotto, Matana Roberts, Feist, and Patti Smith.[1][2][3] Raised in Toronto before relocating to Montreal in her late teens, Moss studied classical piano and violin from a young age, which informed her transition into the city's vibrant underground and independent music scene. Since launching her solo career in 2015, she has focused on live improvisation and composition, releasing acclaimed albums on Constellation Records, including Pools of Light (2017), Entanglement (2018), Phosphenes (2021), Galaxy Heart (2022), and the digital release For UNRWA (2024) in support of Palestinian relief efforts. Her work often explores meditative and plaintive themes, blending violin with electronics and voice, and has earned recognition in film scoring, such as her contributions highlighted at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.[3][4][5][1][2] Moss's innovative approach extends to interdisciplinary projects, including a 2024 exchange with quantum physics researchers at the Institut Quantique and premieres of orchestral compositions with the Novarumori Ensemble. She has toured with ensembles like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thurston Moore, and continues to perform actively, with her latest album Unfolding (2025) on Constellation Records, and recent supporting tours for artists such as Swans.[1][1]Early life
Childhood and family
Jessica Moss was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, though her birth year remains limited in public records. She was raised in Toronto, where her family maintained strong ties to Montreal; her parents and grandparents had grown up there, and she spent summers and winters visiting the city from an early age. This familial connection to Montreal foreshadowed her eventual permanent relocation in her late teens during the late 1990s.[4] Moss's family environment was deeply immersed in music, fostering her early artistic interests despite sparse documentation of personal dynamics. Her mother, who had played cello and valued music as an essential part of education, decided before Moss's birth that formal lessons would be a significant aspect of her upbringing; accordingly, Moss began playing the violin at the age of five, an initiation prompted by her mother's influence. Her sister was similarly encouraged to take up piano, reflecting a household commitment to classical training. The home was filled with diverse sounds, including classical music, jazz, blues, and even an early fascination with the Grateful Dead, which shaped Moss's emotional connection to music from a young age.[6][7][4] This supportive backdrop, however, was not without challenges; Moss and her mother frequently clashed over daily violin practice during her early years, leading her mother to relent when Moss was 12 and allow her to quit—though Moss chose to persist independently thereafter. Her father's involvement in bands within Toronto's Communist Jewish community further enriched this musical atmosphere, emphasizing communal singing and sharing. Such family influences provided a foundation that nurtured Moss's innate passion, setting the stage for her later formal musical development.[6][4]Musical training
Jessica Moss began her musical training at the age of five, starting with violin lessons encouraged by her mother, a cellist who viewed music education as essential.[7] Her early instruction focused on classical techniques, supplemented by studies in piano, as she grew up in Toronto and Montreal immersed in formal classical music environments.[3] As a teenager, Moss progressed to advanced levels, performing in the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, where she memorized complex pieces due to a learning disability that hindered reading notation.[3] This period exposed her to orchestral discipline and a broad classical repertoire, including works like Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, which her family played at home.[6] She also encountered folk and early experimental sounds through her parents' involvement in Jewish community music, blending traditional elements with classical foundations.[4] Moss incorporated self-taught practices into her development, rebelling against rigid formal lessons by quitting structured violin study around age 12 but continuing to explore the instrument independently.[6] She honed improvisation skills by playing by ear, avoiding heavy reliance on music theory, which allowed her to experiment with non-traditional violin techniques like extended bowing and unconventional phrasing early on.[3] These self-directed methods, influenced by diverse listening including jazz, blues, and emerging rock, laid the groundwork for her innovative approach to the violin.[4]Career
Early bands and tours
Moss's entry into professional music occurred in the mid-1990s when she joined the Montreal alt-rock band Fidget as violinist and vocalist. Formed in the local indie scene, Fidget blended experimental elements with rock, and Moss contributed to their 1997 album Inside the Rooster, where she performed on violin across multiple tracks and provided backing vocals.[8] Her tenure with the group lasted from 1995 to 1997, marking her initial foray into band performances and recordings.[9] In the late 1990s, Moss expanded her live experience by touring as a temporary violinist with the Los Angeles-based alt-country band Geraldine Fibbers, led by Carla Bozulich. Recruited to fill in during their 1997 tour supporting the album Butch, she added string arrangements to their intense, genre-blending sets, which drew from country, punk, and noise influences. This role showcased her versatility on stage, supporting Bozulich's raw vocal delivery and the band's dynamic instrumentation during shows across North America.[10] Moss also contributed to Carla Bozulich's multimedia project Automatic Vaudeville in Montreal, providing violin performances, music composition, and acting in various productions during the late 1990s. Drawing on her violin proficiency developed through classical training, these collaborations blended experimental music with theatrical elements, reflecting the project's avant-garde ethos.Work with Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
Jessica Moss joined Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra in 2001 as a violinist and backing vocalist, becoming a core member of the Montreal-based post-rock ensemble.[11][12] Her initial contributions focused on string arrangements and harmonic support, enhancing the band's chamber-orchestra sound during live performances and recordings following the group's debut album.[3] Over the next decade, Moss participated in key recordings that defined the band's evolution from sparse, mournful post-rock to more politically charged, punk-inflected compositions. She contributed violin, vocals, and co-compositional elements to albums such as Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward (2001), where her strings added emotional depth to tracks like "13 Angels Standing 'Round the Side of Four Dead Infants"; Horses in the Sky (2005), featuring her backing vocals on anthemic pieces; and Kollaps Tradixionales (2010), which showcased her growing role in layered textures.[11][3] These works, released on Constellation Records, highlighted her integration into the band's collaborative process at Hotel2Tango studios.[3] Moss's role expanded prominently in the band's later phase, particularly on the 2014 album Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything, where she took lead vocals alongside violinist Sophie Trudeau on several tracks, including the opening "Austerity Blues" and "Piphany #1," infusing the music with raw, declarative energy.[13][14] This shift marked her transition from supporting ensemble member to a featured voice in the quintet's more concise, rhythm-driven style. Throughout her tenure, she joined extensive North American and European tours, performing at festivals like All Tomorrow's Parties and contributing to the band's reputation for immersive, politically infused live sets.[11][3] The band entered an indefinite hiatus around 2014, after which Moss pursued solo endeavors, reflecting on her time with the group as foundational to her experimental violin techniques.[3][15]Involvement with Black Ox Orkestar
Jessica Moss co-founded Black Ox Orkestar in the summer of 2000 in Montreal, Quebec, alongside violinist and multi-instrumentalist Scott Gilmore, clarinetist Gabriel Levine, and bassist Thierry Amar.[16] The quartet emerged from Montreal's post-punk scene, aiming to reinvent non-nationalist traditions of Jewish music through a lens of Yiddish modernism and diasporic identity, drawing influences from klezmer, Romani, Arabic, Balkan, and broader Eastern European folkways.[16][17] As the violinist, Moss played a foundational role in the group's sound, providing melodic leadership and contributing to both instrumental and vocal arrangements that emphasized experimental folk elements over traditional fusion.[16] The band's early output included the debut album Ver Tanzt? (2004), which blended brooding Eastern European tunes with original compositions, followed by Nisht Azoy (2006), an exploration of migrant solidarity and cultural cross-pollination released on Constellation Records.[16] These works positioned Black Ox Orkestar at the forefront of a new wave of Jewish music, rejecting sanitized revivalism in favor of raw, unburdened performances.[18] The group maintained intense activity through 2007, performing extensively and building a reputation for live sets that fused historical Jewish repertoires with contemporary socio-political themes.[16] After a 15-year hiatus, during which members pursued solo and collaborative projects, Black Ox Orkestar reunited in 2020 with Moss, Gilmore, and Levine, adding double bassist Stéphane Diamantakiou; this led to the 2022 album Everything Returns, which reconvened the core lineup to delve deeper into diasporic themes amid global migration crises.[16][19] Moss's violin work continued to anchor the ensemble's haunting, cross-cultural call-and-response style in this revival.[16]Guest appearances and collaborations
Moss has demonstrated her versatility as a violinist and vocalist through numerous guest contributions to albums by fellow Montreal and Toronto-based artists, often enhancing post-rock, indie, and experimental recordings with her layered string arrangements and harmonies. These one-off appearances, spanning the early 2000s to the 2020s, highlight her role as a sought-after session musician in Canada's vibrant indie scene, drawing on skills honed in world music contexts to add emotional depth and textural richness. She has also toured with ensembles including Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thurston Moore.[1][20] One of her earliest notable guest spots came on Frankie Sparo's debut album My Red Scare (2000), where she provided violin on several tracks, including the evocative "The Loneliest Mademoiselle," contributing to the record's intimate, reverb-drenched sound.[21][22] In the early 2000s, Moss appeared on Broken Social Scene's instrumental debut Feel Good Lost (2001) and their breakthrough You Forgot It in People (2002), playing violin on key songs like "Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl," which helped define the collective's expansive, orchestral indie rock aesthetic.[23] She extended this collaborative spirit to Arcade Fire's seminal Funeral (2004), adding strings that amplified the album's raw emotional intensity and chamber-like arrangements. Throughout the late 2000s, Moss toured and recorded with Vic Chesnutt for his Constellation Records releases North Star Deserter (2007) and At the Cut (2009), delivering violin parts that intertwined with Chesnutt's introspective songwriting and folk-punk edge.[20] Her contributions continued into the 2010s with violin on Matana Roberts' Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile (2013), supporting the project's avant-garde jazz and narrative explorations. In the mid-2010s, she guested on Big|Brave's albums Au De La (2015) and Ardor (2017), her violin weaving into the duo's heavy, drone-infused doom folk, and provided violin on Sarah Davachi's Gave in Rest (2018).[24][25] More recently, in the 2020s, Moss has featured on Oiseaux-Tempête's From Somewhere Invisible (2021), contributing violin to the French post-rock outfit's atmospheric soundscapes during a shared tour.[26] These appearances underscore Moss's ongoing adaptability, bridging experimental and indie genres while maintaining her signature emotive violin work.[1]Solo recordings
Jessica Moss began her solo recording career with the self-released album Under Plastic Island in 2015, which featured experimental violin loops layered with ambient sounds and ethereal vocals to create haunting, droning soundscapes evoking submersion and emotional depth.[27] Recorded in collaboration with producer Guy Picciotto, the work marked Moss's initial foray into independent composition, drawing on her violin proficiency to build mesmerizing, dark atmospheres without relying on traditional structures.[27] Transitioning to Constellation Records, Moss's 2017 debut for the label, Pools of Light, expanded her palette into elegiac, durational pieces blending neo-classicism, electronic elements, and avant-folk influences, with violin themes inflected by maqam and klezmer traditions gradually introducing vocals amid organic textures.[28] This album established a foundation for her exploratory style, emphasizing non-digital production to contrast resonant acoustics with subtle machine-like rumblings.[29] Her follow-up, Entanglement in 2018, delved deeper into electro-acoustic minimalism and post-classical forms, using string-led soundscapes and unnerving electronica to explore themes of particles and fractals, humanizing abstract voids through mournful violin motifs.[30][31] Moss's output evolved further during the pandemic period, with Phosphenes in 2021 presenting resolute, heart-rending compositions that collapsed classical traditions onto post-rock frameworks, capturing phenomena of inner light through powerful, awe-inspiring violin-driven pieces.[32][33] The companion album Galaxy Heart in 2022 incorporated more prominent vocals alongside violin and electronics, paired with percussive elements, to yield restless, dense sonic explorations reflective of improvised home recording.[34][35] Culminating this trajectory, Unfolding in 2025 emerged as her most meditative work, featuring longform ambient structures with repetition, dissonance, and choral vocals in electroacoustic soundscapes, centered on themes of reflection, shared experience, and collective liberation. Released in October 2025, it has been supported by North American tours and her role as opening act for Swans' European and UK tour as of November 2025.[36][1] Across these releases, Moss's solo recordings trace a progression from introspective violin experimentation to expansive, voice-infused electroacoustic meditations, prioritizing emotional immersion and participatory resonance.[3]Film scores and compositions
Jessica Moss has composed original scores for a range of visual media, including documentaries, short films, and dance productions, often blending her signature violin work with processed electronics and vocals to evoke emotional depth and atmospheric tension. Since 2024, she has participated in an experimental research exchange with quantum physicists at the Institut Quantique in Montréal, exploring interdisciplinary applications of her compositional techniques. She has also premiered orchestral arrangements of her solo works with the Novarumori Ensemble in collaboration with composer Isak Goldschneider, including performances in 2023.[37][20] Her early film scoring credit came in 2014 with the short film Sound Asleep, directed by Aisling Chin-Yee, for which Moss co-composed and performed the soundtrack alongside her sister Nadia Moss.[37] The piece features intimate, layered string arrangements that underscore the film's themes of vulnerability and introspection.[38] In 2018, Moss provided the score for the documentary Laila at the Bridge, directed by Elizabeth and Gulistan Mirzaei, which explores addiction and resilience in Afghanistan.[39] The film's haunting, minimalist composition contributed to its recognition, including the F:ACT Award at CPH:DOX.[40] Moss expanded into live performance scoring with the 2019 production DUST by Australian dance company Dancenorth, where she composed and performed an original score that dynamically interacted with the choreography, incorporating violin improvisation to mirror themes of human connection and environmental fragility.[26] This multimedia work highlighted her ability to adapt compositions for theatrical contexts.[41] In 2020, she created the music for Opened Ending, a short film by Jem Cohen, released as part of Constellation Records' Corona Borealis series; the track features processed violin and subtle percussion, emphasizing themes of uncertainty and closure.[42] Her score for the 2021 feature Superior, directed by Erin Vassilopoulos and premiered at Sundance, employs echoing synths and violin to heighten the film's psychological thriller elements, blending 1980s-inspired sounds with modern unease.[2] Critics noted how Moss's contributions enhanced the narrative's artificial, dreamlike quality.[43] More recently, in 2024, Moss debuted For UNRWA, an album-length live composition premiered at a Berlin concert, with all proceeds donated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA); the work draws on her experimental style to address humanitarian crises through extended violin improvisations and vocal elements.[44] This piece exemplifies her ongoing engagement with socially resonant multimedia compositions beyond traditional film.[45]Musical style and influences
Characteristic style
Jessica Moss's characteristic style centers on a violin-centric approach that employs looping, effects pedals, and vocal layering to create immersive, textured soundscapes. In her solo performances and recordings, she builds dense, evolving compositions live using violin as the primary instrument, augmented by voice, bells, and loopers without relying on pre-programmed sequences or computers, resulting in organic, multi-layered illusions of an ensemble.[20][1] This technique produces rich drones and melodic progressions, where processed violin lines interweave with subtle vocal harmonies to evoke emotional depth and spatial vastness.[46][47][3] Her music blends post-rock drone with folk minimalism and experimental improvisation, yielding hypnotic, introspective pieces that prioritize atmospheric immersion over conventional song structures. Moss draws on post-classical and drone elements to craft sustained, resonant tones, often incorporating minimalist repetitions that echo folk traditions, while her improvisational flair allows for spontaneous textural shifts during live sets.[36][3][32] World music elements, such as klezmer inflections from her work with Black Ox Orkestar, occasionally surface in rhythmic or melodic phrasing, adding subtle ethnic contours to the drone-based palette.[36] Over time, Moss's style has evolved from supportive ensemble roles emphasizing collective post-rock dynamics to more introspective solo meditative pieces, as exemplified in her 2025 album Unfolding. This record marks her most plaintive and meditative work to date, featuring slow-unfolding violin drones and layered vocals that foster a sense of quiet contemplation and emotional release.[36][48][49] The album's rich, dark textures highlight her shift toward maximalist post-classicism within a minimalist framework, prioritizing personal and communal catharsis through immersive sound.[50][51]Key influences
Jessica Moss's early musical development was profoundly shaped by classical violin traditions, beginning with her childhood studies in piano and violin in Toronto and Montreal. She has cited admiration for virtuoso violinists such as Hilary Hahn, Gil Shaham, and Anne-Sophie Mutter, whose technical precision and emotional expressiveness influenced her foundational approach to the instrument.[52] Specific classical works that left a lasting impression include Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Massenet's Meditation from Thaïs, Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, and the second movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, which evoked deep emotional responses and informed her lyrical style.[6] Folk traditions also played a pivotal role in her formative years, rooted in her Eastern European Jewish heritage and family involvement in community music circles. Her father's participation in Communist Jewish bands exposed her to communal singing and sharing practices, fostering an appreciation for oral and improvisational folk forms. This extended to an early obsession with the Grateful Dead, whose improvisational jams blended folk, rock, and psychedelia, alongside old-school blues and jazz from her parents' record collection.[4] Through her involvement with Black Ox Orkestar, Moss deepened her engagement with Yiddish, Arabic, and Balkan music, drawing on klezmer's multicultural roots that incorporate Russian, Turkish, and German elements. These traditions, characterized by modal scales and emotive melodies, became integral to her compositional palette, as seen in her use of Jewish and Arabic modes for layered violin textures. A 2022 tour of Eastern Europe and the Balkans further reinforced this connection, highlighting klezmer's historical ties to the region's folkways.[3][53] In the experimental and post-rock spheres, Moss was influenced by peers and collaborators within Montreal's Constellation Records scene, including Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, whose expansive, drone-infused soundscapes expanded her textural explorations. Figures like Carla Bozulich, with whom she has performed, introduced raw, improvisational intensity, while encounters with The Ex featuring Tom Cora and Dirty Three at age 18 opened her to punk-inflected experimentalism and rhythmic innovation. Additionally, drone artist Kevin Doria's work inspired her solo ventures, emphasizing immersive, processional atmospheres. The 1990s grunge wave, including Sonic Youth, Pixies, and Fugazi, further marked her shift from classical rigidity to experimental freedom during high school.[3][6][4]Personal life
Family
Jessica Moss has been in a long-term partnership with Efrim Menuck, the guitarist and singer of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, with whom she has collaborated extensively in the Montreal music scene.[54] In 2009, Moss and Menuck welcomed their son, Ezra Steamtrain Moss Menuck.[55] The family resides in Montreal and plays a central role in the city's experimental music community, balancing parenthood with ongoing musical endeavors as depicted in the 2013 documentary Come Worry with Us!, which chronicles their experiences touring with their young child.[56]Residence and other activities
Jessica Moss has maintained a long-term residence in Montreal's Mile End neighborhood, a vibrant cultural hub known for its artistic community and independent shops.[57] She co-founded Local 23, a vintage clothing and curiosities store in the same district, which opened in 2002 at 5364 Saint-Laurent Boulevard and specialized in curated 1990s attire, accessories, and works by local artists. Moss left the business in early 2005 to focus on her music career. The store ceased operations or merged with Annex Vintage by October 2025.[57][58] In addition to these pursuits, Moss engages deeply with Montreal's broader arts scene through interdisciplinary projects, including a 2024 experimental research exchange with quantum physicists at the Institut Quantique (Université de Sherbrooke), facilitated by the Société des arts technologiques (SAT) and hosted at Sporobole. She has also collaborated on site-specific installations, such as weave me too into the threads of your song with artists Gabriel Levine and Erik Ruin.[20][1] Moss's activist commitments extend to humanitarian causes; in 2024, she released the digital live album For UNRWA, recorded at Morphine Raum in Berlin, with all proceeds directed to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to support relief efforts in Gaza. The project garnered over 800 supporters and raised thousands of dollars, later featuring in an exhibition at Museo Burel in Belluno, Italy.[59][44][1]Discography
Solo albums
Jessica Moss has released seven solo albums to date, beginning with a self-released cassette and followed by full-length records on Constellation Records.[28]| Title | Release Date | Label | Formats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under Plastic Island | October 12, 2015 | Self-released | Cassette, digital |
| Pools of Light | May 5, 2017 | Constellation Records | 180g LP, CD, digital |
| Entanglement | October 26, 2018 | Constellation Records | 180g LP, CD, digital |
| Phosphenes | November 19, 2021 | Constellation Records | 180g LP, CD, digital |
| Galaxy Heart | October 7, 2022 | Constellation Records | 180g LP, CD, digital |
| For UNRWA | March 1, 2024 | Self-released | Digital |
| Unfolding | October 24, 2025 | Constellation Records | LP, CD, digital |
With Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
Jessica Moss served as a violinist and backing vocalist for Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra across their albums from Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward (2001) to Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything (2014).[65] Her contributions are credited as follows:- Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward (2001): violin.
- "This Is Our Punk-Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing (2003): violin, backing vocals.
- Horses in the Sky (2005): violin, backing vocals.
- 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons (2008): violin, backing vocals.
- Kollaps Tradixionales (2010): violin, backing vocals; alongside Sophie Trudeau, Moss provided prominent dual violin lines that shaped the album's experimental textures.[66][67]
- Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything (2014): violin, backing vocals.[68]