Ecca Vandal

Born Annika Schmarsel on July 8, 1993 in Victoria, Australia, J Dilla-inspired electronic beatmaker Alice Ivy kickstarted her career in 2016 after winning Australia's Triple J Unearthed Listen Out competition. The daughter of West German immigrants, Schmarsel began picking up guitar skills aged 12 under the tutelage of her grandmother and uncle. In high school, she joined the Sweethearts; an all-girl soul big band. She launched her recorded musical debut in 2015 with a trio of singles; "Charlie", "Mean Man's Bite" featuring Chloe Beckwith and "Walk On" featuring Indigo Fly. The success of singles "Touch" featuring Georgia van Etten and "Almost Here" featuring RaRa helped to elevate Schmarsel's profile and she continued her winning streak in 2017 with another pair of single releases. 2018 saw the release of "Chasing Stars" (featuring ARIA award-winning singer-songwriter Bertie Blackman) and Schmarsel's kaleidoscopic debut LP, I'm Dreaming, which trips through hip-hop, nu-jazz and more beat-rich styles. In 2020, she released her sophomore album, Don't Sleep, which featured a brood of collaborators, including Blackman, and earned Schmarsel a double nomination nod at the ARIA Awards that year for Best Dance Release and Engineer of the Year (Alice Ivy).