Born of an intellectual household helmed by two sociology professors, Lina Quesada learned from an early age to weave together concepts of logic and emotion, art and intellect. This practice has been applied to her songwriting career; from the age of seven onward  Lina wrote songs for school musicals and family performances. She’s never looked back. Ten years ago, Lina left her birthplace of Bogotá , Colombia to seek success in Toronto. She started with only a scant handful of original songs, an acceptance letter to Humber College’s music program and a dream, but over the last decade Lina has been honing her art with hard work, dedication that allows her to overcome the challenges in her path.

Lina’s professional start was behind the scenes, working at a music management company and turning out jingles. Her first step onto the stage was singing for the band Sweet Thursday in 2003, working with producers Todd Dafoe and J. Miller. Unfortunately, Sweet Thursday was an outfit that was a touch too commercial, and Lina returned to her own projects. Working with old friends and contacts from college, Lina found herself in the company of some established names in the industry – Ron Lopata (Jully Black, Ron Sexsminth), Bryon Wong (Beck, David Usher) and engineer Vic Florencia (Joss Stone, Nelly Furtado). Free from obligations and distractions that old projects held, Lina recorded a demo CD that was true to her artistic vision in 2008.

Lina’s new EP, One, is a fresh of breath air amidst a musical landscape that can be audaciously loud and bright. One hits emotional high and lows during its brief duration. Her songs fuse a piano-pop foundation with lilting melodies, Latin rhythm and jazz accents overlaid with understated lyrics and finished with a dark, sometimes haunting edge. One is an EP that could have only been produced by a woman like Lina Quesada, who manages to interlace the rigid concepts of logic and knowledge with the flowing ideas behind art and emotion.