Robert Michael “Mike” VanPortfleet is an American singer-songwriter and

keyboard player A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instru ...

, most recognized for founding the

darkwave Dark wave, or darkwave, is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as being dark, ro ...

group

Lycia Lycia (; Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; , ; ) was a historical region in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the provinces of Antalya and Muğ ...

in 1988. During the 2000s, his focus shifted from Lycia to several other musical projects which included his debut solo work, '' Beyond the Horizon Line''.

History

Mike VanPortfleet was born in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

in the early 1960s. In 1978, he moved to

Tempe, Arizona Tempe ( ; ''Oidbaḍ'' in O'odham language, O'odham) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in t ...

, where he studied and graduated with a degree in

cultural geography Cultural geography is a subfield within human geography. Though the first traces of the study of different nations and cultures on Earth can be dated back to ancient geographers such as Ptolemy or Strabo, cultural geography as academic study fir ...

. Soon afterward he picked up the guitar and played with several unsuccessful bands, most of whom were notorious at local venues for their drunken behavior. After nearly abandoning his musical interests and returning to school, VanPortfleet learned about 4-track recording and decided to try his hand at composing and producing music himself. In May 1988, Mike began the musical project

under which he recorded mostly guitar experiments. He enlisted bassist John Fair and together they produced over a hundred songs within a matter of months. In March 1989, VanPortfleet released some of the music from these sessions under the name Lycia on '' Wake'', a 6-song

demo tape A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

released through Orphanage Records.

Discography

; Solo * '' Beyond the Horizon Line'' (Silber, 2004) ; Lycia * '' Wake'' (Orphanage, 1989) * ''

Ionia Ionia ( ) was an ancient region encompassing the central part of the western coast of Anatolia. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionians who ...

'' ( Projekt, 1991) * '' A Day in the Stark Corner'' (Projekt, 1993) * '' The Burning Circle and Then Dust'' (Projekt, 1995) * ''

Cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjectivity, subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute t ...

'' (Projekt, 1997) * '' Estrella'' (Projekt, 1998) * '' Tripping Back Into the Broken Days'' (Projekt, 2002) * '' Empty Space'' (Silber, 2003) * '' Quiet Moments'' (Handmade Birds, 2013) * '' A Line That Connects'' (Handmade Birds, 2015) * '' In Flickers'' (Lycium Music, 2018) ; Bleak * '' Vane'' (Projekt, 1995) ; Estraya * ''The Time Has Come and Gone'' (Reptilian, 2000)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:VanPortfleet, Mike American rock guitarists American male guitarists American rock keyboardists Dark wave musicians American gothic rock musicians Living people Musicians from Grand Rapids, Michigan Guitarists from Michigan 21st-century American keyboardists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American male musicians