Bio

Kirsten Carey is a guitarist, composer, and performer. She was raised in Chicago, IL and, after two years in Los Angeles, presently resides in Detroit, MI. While perhaps most well-known for playing the very skronky guitar solo on clipping.’s “Stab Him in the Throat,” Carey’s primary projects include the angular no-wave duo Throwaway, the classical-rock-improv Uroboros Sextet, and the Ulysses Project - a suite based on James Joyce's novel that combines free jazz, rock, and theater.

Carey's work plays with the boundary between music and the more theatrical and presentational aspects of performance, and constantly tampers with genre. She has performed extensively across the USA and Japan, as well as in Canada, Europe, and Thailand. Carey has also been commissioned to compose for new music projects such as the Hinge Ensemble and Chris Sies of Latitude 49.

In 2019, Carey was awarded a cultural exchange grant to study the shamisen in Japan by the Asian Cultural Council. Once that exchange was finally realized after a pandemic-induced delay, she was awarded an Emergency Grant by the Foundation of Contemporary Arts in 2023 to continue her work building bridges between the Japanese and American experimental music scenes.

Carey was a resident artist at the 2018 Co-Incidence Festival in Boston, MA, attended the 2018 Banff Jazz & Creative Music Workshop, and has been a featured performer at the International Society of Improvised Music Conference. Her composition "Sasquatch / Happening" is featured on Clean Feed Record's solo guitar compilation I Never Meta Guitar III, curated by celebrated guitarist Elliott Sharp.

(List time!) Carey has shared the stage with Tyshawn Sorey, Okkyung Lee, Elliott Sharp, Fay Victor, Val Jeanty, Wadada Leo Smith, Weasel Walter, Thollem McDonas, James Ilgenfritz, and Karl Berger, among others. Her groups have also opened for the Sun Ra Arkestra, Deerhoof, Circuit Des Yeux, Thumbscrew, and Anthony Pirog. She has been written up in Downbeat, All About Jazz, the Detroit News, the Detroit Metro Times, the New York Jazz Record, Ghetto Blaster, Post Trash, Tinnitist, Current Magazine, and more.

Carey earned her BFA in Jazz & Contemplative Studies (focusing on guitar) in 2014 at the University of Michigan, working primarily with Frank Portolese, Andrew Bishop, and Geri Allen. She is currently studying Tsugaru shamisen under All-Japan national champion Reigen Fujii.

Additionally, Carey works as a video game / anime editorialist, researcher, and influencer, with her work around the anime and manga series One Piece garnering viral attention. She has been a guest on The One Piece Podcast and has been published on The Mary Sue, The Daily Beast, Screen Rant, and the YouTube channels Channel Frederator / the Leaderboard. Carey is also a sound effects and music editor, and her credits include Disney's The Lion Guard, Rodney Ascher’s A Glitch in the Matrix (Magnolia Pictures, featured at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival), and an upcoming Netflix Japan show.

Hooray!