VILLAS

VILLAS is Mel and D’Ari, a classic romance built on the abandonment of convention. Both were immersed in Toronto’s creative circles when they stumbled into a life change. Faced with an offer they couldn’t refuse, they traded everything in for an isolated farm on an island in Canada. The house had no front door, plumbing, kitchen or bathrooms, and was inhabited by animals on arrival. They called it their “villa”.

Having spent most of their lives in various music projects, they assembled a home studio and began to musically chronicle their unusual lives. They have been quietly hoarding, but never releasing, music for over a decade. Mel and D’Ari write about the intersections of their sexual orientations and races, the complexities of non-monogamy, modern love, and mental illness yet somehow still infuse their music with an infectious lust for life.

When they aren’t writing songs, they can be found winning UN Intercultural Innovation awards, collaborating on purpose-driven art projects with some of the worlds biggest pop stars, and meeting with world leaders like Barack Obama to discuss their social justice work. The arts not-for-profit they co-founded, Darkspark, leverages pop culture as a catalyst to drive positive social change.