Beth Thornley

As an independent artist, Beth values flexibility when it comes to gigs, and easily switches hats between the duo configuration with Rob and a full band setup that includes bass and drums. “I play a lot of piano parts in both situations,” she says. “But when we’re with the full band, I trigger a lot of crazy, wacky sounds: crickets, strings, backwards piano. When I’m in a smaller group, I’m holding down almost all the harmonies, so I spend a lot more time just on the piano.” While Rob handles guitars and beats in the duo configuration, Beth jams primarily on an M-Audio Axiom 61 hooked up to a Muse Receptor running GForce M-Tron and Native Instruments Akoustik Piano and Kontakt 2. “On a couple songs in the duo, I have a bass sound in my left hand and I try to consciously play it like a bass player,” she continues. “I try not to play below a low E and I try to walk it around a little more than I would strictly as a keyboard player.”

The daughter of trained musicians, Beth started her musical development early and grew to become a serious classical player before entering the world of popular music. “I started on piano when I was nine and it was just an assumption that I would do it,” she says. “The rule at my house was, ‘You have to sit at the piano for 30 minutes. You don’t have to play the piano, but you’re going to sit on the bench for 30 minutes every day.’ Pretty soon 30 minutes became an hour a day, and I was up to four hours a day when I was in college. I look back on that now, and I can’t even believe it.

“It wasn’t until I got out of school that I decided that I wanted to rock!” she continues, laughing. A move to L.A. ensued and Beth began singing and playing keys with a band. “I got a rock ’n ’roll education,” she says. “They’d look at me funny sometimes and say, ‘You’re playing that way too straight.’ It was a little trial by fire, but it was good.”

Acting on advice from her voice teacher in L.A., Beth began writing songs as well. “My first couple songs weren’t great or anything, but I managed to do it,” she says. Her album, My Glass Eye, shows just how far Beth has come since then: Her songwriting is memorably bittersweet and evocative, demonstrating an ease and masterful touch with both lyrics and melody.