alexander mckenzie is a singer, a songwriter, a cynic. If you're looking for cheery songs about rainbows and lollipops, then you've come to the wrong place. She's not bitter, but she has been bitterly disappointed by humankind on several occasions. So she wrote songs about them. She's also been heartbreakingly uplifted and inspired by a number of people over the last 30 years. She chooses to enjoy these moments rather than write about them, with a few choice exceptions. Melancholy thrives in her throat; pathos steers her hands over the keys. Humour anchors her to the surface of the earth, and fear keeps her from living the things she writes about. Her grandma wants her to move back home to Canada and get married, but alexander has other plans. Her mission: to uncover the secret of true melancholic joy together with her band, the underpaid. Being the cynic that she is, she knows she'll never find it, but it's a pretty damn good reason to get up in the morning.

& the underpaid: evert aalten, ingmar spaaij, jan pohl, max van zutphen