Victoria Vox Performs 2 New Songs from ‘Nirvana in REM’ | Ukulele Sessions

When Victoria Vox stopped by the Ukulele magazine office in the SF Bay Area for a cover photo session for the Summer 2022 issue, she and her guitar-playing husband Jack Maher (who often play together as Jack & the Vox) also performed a pair of songs from her wonderful new album, Nirvana in REM, for our cameras. The intimate, stripped-down arrangements of “Color of Lying” and “Floating on Fruit” both showcase Vox’s creative use of looping ukulele and vocal parts in performance and the beauty of her vocal blend with Jack.

“Color of Lying” also utilizes an interesting effect on the uke: “During the writing stage,” she explains in the story, “I was experimenting with some different sounds on the uke and took a ribbon and laced it around the strings near the saddle. This created a nice, muted, percussive sound when plucking out the chords and notes, and was ultimately used in the final version of the song.”

The cool ukulele in the video is a custom tenor by Mya-Moe with a design by visionary artist Fred Stonehouse burned onto the instrument by pyrographer Dino Muradian. Stonehouse’s art inspired most of the songs on the album. You can find lots more about the Vox and the album in the Summer 2022 issue.