Graduating Thornton students display talents at senior showcase

Every year since 2013, the popular music program at USC has put on a showcase for its graduating seniors to perform their creations from the past four years before they venture off into the music industry.  The program founding director Chris Sampson told the Daily Trojan that the purpose is not only to provide a culminating experience and celebrate the musicians’ accomplishments, but also to showcase the artists’ talents to industry executives who attend the show. Students also work on a final project throughout their senior year that gives them some momentum going into their post-graduate careers. While the free showcase used to take place at the Troubadour, a symbolic bastion of underground talent in Los Angeles, because the event has since outgrown the space, it is now hosting the soon-to-be graduates on stage at El Rey Theatre. Below, read about the seniors’ music, where they get their influences, what they plan to do after graduation and what they’ll be performing at the showcase Friday night.

Ben Mironer

With a sound that is “a cross between Jeff Buckley, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead,” popular music performance major Ben Mironer will play “The Jackie Song” and “The City” during his showcase performance. On the side, Mironer has done gigs for an electronic project called Big Yeti, featuring “trap and bass house and a bunch of remixes.”

After graduating from the program with a focus in piano performances, Mironer plans to take some time off and travel, either around California or abroad. After that, the senior plans to move in with some friends in Highland Park, continue to create music, perform for his live band and give kids production lessons.  

As for the showcase, Mironer says he’s just excited to see all his fellow popular music performance majors perform after all this time, especially since he doesn’t see all of them on a regular basis anymore. When he recently rehearsed with peer Caroline Hisel, Mironer said he could hear a throughline in her sound from what he remembered, but was blown away by the level of development Hisel has had over the past four years.

Mica Nafshun-Bone

Senior Mica Nafshun-Bone began taking violin lessons when she was six years old. Sick of the classical box she was always restricted to, Nafshun-Bone took up the after-school program String Project Los Angeles, where she learned how to improvise and play popular songs on violin.

“I think it’s safe to say I’d fall under the indie category,” Nafshun-Bone said.

Planning to release music soon for the first time, Nafshun-Bone takes inspiration from artists like Andrew Bird and has been consistently influenced by The Beatles throughout her entire musical career. She’s been mentored by various Thornton faculty, including assistant professor Sean Holt, who’s been walking Nafshun-Bone through the EP process for her final project within the program.

After graduating this May, Nafshun-Bone plans to take a year off from school and write some scores in preparation for applying to USC’s screen scoring program, as she  hopes to eventually compose for films and video games.

Friday’s showcase, Nafshun-Bone is playing her songs “Too Soon” and “No More Darkness” and will be backed by cello, cajón and background singers. On the latter song, Nafshun-Bone will be playing violin and singing lead vocals at the same time.

Mallory Hauser

Even though she’s played guitar most of her life, Mallory Hauser never considered herself a lead guitarist. After entering the program, she has not only emerged as the lead guitarist in a few different projects, but has also learned to produce, write arrangements, compose and score.

“I didn’t play with anybody until my senior year in high school,” Hauser said. “I knew that I really wanted to make it in music and I didn’t grow up playing jazz guitar or classical guitar. [The] pop program, to me … felt like my only option.”

Taking influence from artists like George Harrison, Ben Howard and Blake Mills, Hauser gravitates toward a “songwriter folk [sound] with indie influences.” Throughout the last four years, Hauser said she’s learned how to harness her emotions in her music.

“Every note you play ideally would come from a certain place of pure and raw emotion,” Hauser said.

After graduation, Hauser plans to go on tour with peer Michael Gordon’s project Mk.Gee, but said she would love to compose for films or TV further into the future while continuing to play live on the side.

Tonight, Hauser will play original songs “Wildflowers” and potentially “Breaking Up From a Bad Dream,” but she has not yet decided whether she will play both.

Hannah McCarthy

An indie rock artist with “a little riot grrrl punk,” Hannah McCarthy, a popular music major with a voice concentration, draws influence from modern guitar rockers like Cherry Glazerr as well as older singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell with a dose of ’60s psychedelic rock for good measure.

Releasing music under stage name Irene Greene, McCarthy said she writes a lot about women’s issues and women that inspire her. One of her showcase songs, “1967,” comes directly from an original poem by her grandmother. Her other showcase song, “Nancy,” is inspired by McCarthy’s critiques of misogyny in old horror films and gets its namesake from the famous character from “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

This summer, McCarthy and her friend Mason Summit are planning a tour up the California coast and potentially in Nashville as well. She’s also working on an EP (with working title “Nancy”) that will likely drop in the fall.

Tiah Barnes

Fusing hip-hop, R&B, funk and influences from artists like Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu, senior Tiah Barnes came into the program as a vocalist, but she said she will be leaving as a full musician with an arsenal of skills to perform well in any setting.

Under the name Tiah Giná, Barnes will release her debut EP later this year. Barnes sees the EP as a culmination of her time in college, as the songs were written as far back to her first summer at USC and as recently as last summer.  

While Barnes will remain in Los Angeles working on music once she graduates, if nothing is holding her here once August comes around, she said she wants to get involved in performing on cruise ships so she can perform regularly while also traveling the world.

Barnes will perform her songs “Time” and “L.A Paid” with a full band of almost 20 people at the El Rey Friday.

Jessi Mason

An indie rock singer-songwriter, Jessi Mason released her first EP “Hollow” while she was still in high school. Mason said she looks for inspiration in artists like Margaret Glaspy and Joni Mitchell, as well as indie-rocker Soccer Mommy and songwriting legend Paul Simon.

One of Mason’s biggest takeaways from the pop program was the experience of collaborating and co-writing with other musicians. On top of that, her sound has shifted and developed since she’s been in school. She said her upcoming songs live in the realm of indie rock, while her most recent project “Night Owl” had some country influence.

Though she is still trying to decide whether she’ll live in New York or LA after graduation, Mason said she’s committed to continuing to write, tour and collaborate. At the El Rey, Mason is breaking out two new cuts titled “When It Rains in LA” and “Queen of the Andes.”

Cooper Holzman

Growing up in Hood River, Ore., Cooper Holzman said he was one of the biggest musicians in the area, which gave him some overconfidence coming into USC.

“I came in thinking I was like the best musician ever,” Holzman said. “Now I realize I’m definitely not, but I’m also a lot better than I was.”

Concentrating in piano performance, Cooper produces and plays what he describes as pop and indie underground pop music. Whereas his influences originally came from metal and transitioned into bands like Twenty One Pilots, now they are mainly Top 40 pop performers like Ariana Grande and Troye Sivan. In the showcase, Holzman will be playing two songs — “River” and “Boat Song” — with his band Chec, which he started in high school with his best friend.

As for his impending graduation, Holzman said he doesn’t see it as that a huge transition — he’s been in the program for four years and now he’s going to go out into the world and keep doing what he’s been doing.

Nyallah Noah

An R&B and soul artist who’s unafraid to sing about the racial dynamics at play within her life, Nyallah Noah recently released an EP under the name Nyallah titled “Reflections,” a self-affirmational project that she wanted to be like a sonic healing.” She takes influence from socially conscious rappers like Mos Def, A Tribe Called Quest and NoName, as well as R&B artists like Mary J. Blige.

Noah used to curate “Loft Sessions,” an event series that highlighted musicians of color, which she’d like to bring back soon with a focus more specifically on queer and femme people of color.

At the El Rey, Noah will perform a song off “Reflections” called “Do U Remember?” as well as the unreleased track “Of You, For Me.”

Abby Hwong

An indie, atmospheric songwriter who takes influence from Big Thief and Ben Howard, Abby Hwong said her songwriting has improved immensely by taking a visual arts class with professor Helen Kim, as it made her think more analytically about her music.

Hwong started writing music in high school under the stage name NoSo and has released four singles. On Friday, she will be playing two of those songs: “Allie” and “Summer.”

Leaving USC, Hwong looks forward to making music her sole focus while living in L.A.

“I’ll have more time to tour and that kind of stuff … as opposed to worrying about GEs,” Hwong said. “I just want to make a living doing it.”

Caroline Hisel

Playing alternative rock with a dose of country influence, Caroline Hisel previously released an album with her band Common Ground, but she will soon drop her debut solo EP. After passing through the popular music program, Hisel said she looks at the bigger picture of music creation now — “as opposed to ‘what am I gonna do?’” Hisel said, “It’s ‘how are we gonna fit together?’”

Hisel will perform her songs “Follow the Leader” and “I’m Not Enough.” The former is about politics and President Donald Trump, Hisel said, while the latter is about “being in a relationship and not feeling like you’re good enough for the other person.”

After graduating, Hisel wants to keep making music, and eventually get to the point where she can support herself solely off her work.

Nick Stone

A member of the pop-funk band Undecided Future, Nick Stone draws sounds from anywhere, from Anderson .Paak to Earth, Wind & Fire to Bruno Mars. Working with producer Dem Jointz, the group is in the middle of a project with the working title “Look Up!” which they will likely release songs from over the summer.

Stone is currently setting up a San Diego and Los Angeles tour as his final project in the popular music program, a task his faculty mentor Nick Stubis has been especially helpful with, Stone said.

Tonight at the El Rey, Stone and his band will play their song “Bouncin” off their LP and a new song, “Look Up!”

Jensen McRae

A “folk-soul-pop” singer, Jensen McRae said that she’s no longer writing simple love songs — throughout her four years at Thornton, she said her lyrics have become more vulnerable and multi-faceted, and she’s chosen to write more about mental health and politics instead.

While McRae already has an EP out called “Milkshakes,” she’s currently writing and recording her first full-length album and plans to finish it this summer.

In tonight’s showcase, McRae will play her songs “White Boy” and “Belt.”

Michael Gordon

Michael Gordon has released two LPs under the moniker Mk.Gee, and will be going on tour with his band following graduation.

“I grew up on a lot of jazz and there are a lot of amazing colors that can come out of that,” Gordon said in a November 2017 Q&A with the Daily Trojan.