Krissy Lassiter is a Manhattan-based musician, producer, and engineer with an exploratory and passionate work ethic. She has honed academic pursuits, professional employment, gender-expansive advocacy, and cultural work into an emerging yet already varied career – both under her own name and via her psychedelic music project, Krissanthemum.

Building upon self-taught musicianship throughout her adolescence in central New Jersey, Lassiter studied at Westminster Choir College. While earning a Bachelor’s in Music Theory and Composition, she gained formal experience in both classical music, performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic as part of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, and newer work, composing for and collaborating with the esteemed ensemble, Sō Percussion. She wrote, performed, and produced the first Krissanthemum album, a combination of intricate instrumentals and idiosyncratic pop full of “strangeness and kitschy beauty” (Phluff), in tandem with her undergraduate thesis, releasing Kaleidoscope Drive and successfully graduating a year ahead of schedule in 2018. Lead single “Girls Should Never Be Afraid” acted as a “rainbow-hued beam of sunshine”, a “much needed boost of faith” (The Grey Estates), and an indicator of the empowering ethos Lassiter would continue to embody.

Lassiter then pursued a Master’s in Studio Composition at SUNY Purchase, following in the footsteps of fellow distinctive alumni of the program like Regina Spektor and Mitski. Having developed her complex songwriting and technical capabilities academically, she interned at ATO Records (Alabama Shakes, Rodrigo y Gabriela) and performed in cities from Chicago to Providence, adding keen insight of the music business and tour management to an already wide-ranging skill set. 2019’s A Fire Left Inside of Me, a “manically colourful” (Various Small Flames) collection of deftly thematic songs, was written, performed, produced, and mixed by Lassiter as her first-year graduate thesis and second Krissanthemum release. 

Lauded as a “New and Notable” experimental pop release by Bandcamp and mastered by the Grammy Award-winning Emily Lazar, 2020’s Safe in My Garden grew from Lassiter’s final master’s thesis, revisiting and remixing her academic work into a shimmering cycle of classical piano, digital feedback, and out-of-the-box synth programming. The curious and inclusive narrative of Krissanthemum’s third project was further realized through participating in programs and workshops hosted by Women’s Audio Mission and We Make Noise – organizations that provide women and gender non-conforming musicians and engineers the means to build meaningful sound opportunities together. Lassiter is expanding her drive into a dedicated proficiency as she creates her upcoming fourth album, which is available in demo format on Soundcloud. She is currently living and working on music every day in Manhattan, NYC.