About
L.A. Mitchell has long been a quiet force within New Zealand music. A stealth operator whose credentials often surprise, she has performed in support of international icons including Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, and Guy Sebastian. She has collaborated with some of Aotearoa’s most respected artists, including Sir Dave Dobbyn, Bic Runga, Tim Finn, Anna Coddington, Sola Rosa, and Dukes.
Her name is intrinsically linked with the celebrated collective Fly My Pretties, led by Black Seeds frontman Barnaby Weir, and more recently she turned heads with a powerful run of performances as part of the Bill Withers Social Club, alongside Troy Kingi and Dallas Tamaira (Fat Freddy’s Drop).
Mitchell’s most recent work is with her husband Matt Barus in their duo project Terrible Sons, finalists for the 2024 Folk Artist Tui. Together they have quietly amassed over 21 million streams, carving out a global audience for their acoustic indie-folk sound. She has also been nominated for the APRA Silver Scroll Top 20, and her recent single “Mother” spent eight weeks on the NZ Alt Charts, peaking at #4.
Her forthcoming album, Meaningful Work, is a 12-year project made in the margins of motherhood, doubt, and a long career spent supporting others. On her third solo record, L.A. Mitchell steps away from streaming platforms and into a fiercely personal, experimental pop statement that asks what creative work is worth in the age of AI — and who it’s really for.
“Shatters the status quo of your long-cemented ‘Immortal G.O.A.T Musicians’ list.”
— Oxford Lamouraux, 13th Floor
“Only twice have I been moved to tears by the sheer beauty of live music… The second was L.A. Mitchell — a seemingly mythical musical creature who channels the best of Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, and Adele, yet is entirely her own.”
— Oxford Lamouraux, 13th Floor
About L.A. Mitchell Vocal Studio
L.A. Mitchell trained in Jazz Vocal Performance and holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Canterbury. Her journey, however, was far from straightforward. During her studies she experienced her voice as constricted and tense, prompting a deeper exploration of vocal physiology and the impact of thought patterns on the body.
“I recognised the need to connect more deeply with the physical self as the feeling centre of the body — to build breath, expression, and release from a grounded, safer place.”
Through years of personal research and careful experimentation, Mitchell developed a vocal approach rooted not in pressure, but in comfort, gentleness, and embodied awareness. This philosophy underpins her teaching, offering students a solid technical foundation while empowering them with freedom and choice in how they use their voice.
In recent years, Mitchell has focused on creating accessible pathways back into singing, particularly for women whose voices have been sidelined by life’s demands. She founded Revive Your Voice, a series of workshops that toured throughout New Zealand, supporting women to reconnect with their voices for joy, expression, and personal freedom — without the pressure of competition or performance.
This work has naturally expanded into exploring the voice as a tool for healing,
About Just For Joy
Just for joy began as the antidote to the word "Grief." L.A. Mitchell had been drawn to the intersection of using the voice to process grief and wanted to facilitate spaces where anyone could come and experience the blessing of singing together. Joy was a more resounding term than grief, and so just for joy was born. A no-prep, no-pressure, non-auditioned, non-competitive, non-performing choir singing acapella together once a month. We sit, we stand, we dance. We sing loud and quietly, we sing pop songs and hymns. We belt out Whitney and serenade with the Beach Boys and Sinatra, we sing the guitar solos and instrumentals. We integrate techniques to open the lungs and face, and to expand the muscles. Engaging in breathwork to build stamina and calm to finish.
" I think choirs offer this space to be vulnerable with strangers without having to declare your soul or share your personal stories, & it gives you a sense of intimacy without having to take off your clothes and get naked"
There is a benefit to finding places that can offer this, in a world full of loneliness and disconnection, this is one simple way we can be drawn together.