SongVault Artist Profile

Ahmond is a singer-songwriter and instrumental composer. He has just released a self-produced debut album called A Boy You Once Knew. It would be played alongside other urban folk contemporaries such as Sufjan Stevens, Patrick Wolf, Beirut, and Regina Spektor on Adult Alternative stations. The last track on the album "Collision," can already be heard on the first season of the HBO series Rome.

On the album, and in live performances, you will hear Ahmond playing a variety of folk instruments such as mandolins and woodwinds, as well as heavier electric guitars. His vocal styles are reminiscent of Morrissey, Bowie, Kate Bush and perhaps Peter Gabriel. It has been said that when Ahmond sings it sounds like a dragon or a mountain singing. Violins, cellos, and percussion often accompany Ahmond's haunting voice like on the epic track "Go to Africa," which is getting Graceland comparisons.

The music is a balance of pop and edgy experimentation. Ahmond will go from crooning to screeching in one breath without the music ever feeling unapproachable. On the track "Everything Eden," the beginning could almost be something off of a Shirley Collins record or any traditional Celtic record, but Ahmond is not content to stick to these conventions. By the end of the song you hear him belting primal wails similar to those of the BaAka people of the African forest.

Ahmond likes to call his music "Folkloric Rock," because his music is always about the magic in dichotomy and paradox. The "Lore," representing the sacred and traditional, while the "Rock" adds the sex and the twist. Much like the lyrics that kick off the album, the culmination brings one "Into the maelstrom..." of the mysteries within oneself and the land surrounding them.

Prior to Ahmond devoting nearly all of his time to music, he was featured in movies and commercials. He played Diahann Carol and Ruby Dee's great-grandnephew in the movie Having Our Say. At that time, he was also acting and working as a musical director for a theatre group formed to raise awareness about HIV, violence, and other social issues. After leaving the theatre group, he packed one bag and a guitar and left the States to travel around Europe, playing in pubs and on street corners where he honed his skills.

Ahmond is currently based in New York.