Posted by The Long Island original artist blending personal storytelling, mythology, and theatrical rock
In September 2025, Calliope Wren reached out to me about her music and her work as an original artist. As someone who enjoys discovering and featuring the talent that makes Long Island’s music scene so vibrant, I was intrigued and wanted to catch her performing live.
As it turned out, getting that opportunity took more than a year — and it wasn’t for lack of trying! Between a couple of pop-up shows and last-minute performance opportunities, our schedules just never seemed to line up. But I kept Calliope on my radar, and when the opportunity finally came, I was ready.
That opportunity arrived at Listen Up Long Island’s Halloween-themed music festival at Stereo Garden, where Calliope took the stage with her band, The Muses. The wait was finally over, and I had the chance to experience the project firsthand — camera in hand.
An Artist With a Vision
Calliope and The Muses delivered a performance that immediately caught my attention. The musicianship was tight, and the presentation had a theatrical quality that went beyond simply putting a band onstage and playing a set. The women appeared in flowing white costumes accented with ivy, while guitarist Ianni Kay wore a contrasting darker look. It was visually striking, and I found myself wondering about the story behind the characters.
Fortunately, I had the opportunity to ask Calliope about the concept.
Her fascination with Greek mythology began early. She recalls growing up loving Disney’s Hercules, drawn to the elegance of the mythology and the darker lessons woven into the stories of gods, goddesses, and Muses. For her, those tales often reveal something about overcoming darkness and emerging with a new understanding.
Calliope herself is named for Calliope, the Muse associated with epic poetry and eloquence. She sees the name as more than a label; it reflects the energy she wants to bring to her performances and the artistic identity she’s continuing to develop.
For some time, she struggled to find the right visual presentation for the project. Then, while considering the look of Greek statues and goddesses, the answer seemed to be right in front of her.
As she explained, the inspiration was there all along — posing.
The costumes represent more than a Halloween flourish. Calliope hopes this mythology-inspired aesthetic will become a defining part of the project’s identity, connecting the name, the music, and the theatrical experience into one cohesive vision.
Music That Says What Words Cannot
Ask Calliope to describe her sound, and she points to a blend of influences that includes Spiritbox and Bilmuri, particularly in the new material she’s currently developing. Her existing debut EP, Fade and Wither, occupies a somewhat different emotional space.
She describes the EP as nostalgic, evoking the feeling of being young, walking around with headphones on, and trying to make sense of the world. It’s music she hopes people can dance to, headbang to, and reflect on at the same time.
But perhaps the most revealing part of her answer comes when she explains why she writes.
“I sing words i feel like i could never say,” she told me.
That simple statement offers a window into the creative process behind Calliope Wren. Music and poetry, she says, are constantly flowing through her. Sometimes a song begins with an emotion or something left unsaid. Other times, a melody comes to her while she’s going about her day, prompting her to capture it in the voice-notes app on her phone.
Some songs emerge quickly; others sit unfinished for months before the right moment arrives to complete them.
She also writes with guitarist and partner Ianni Kay. Her favorite part of the process is beginning a song at the piano and watching it grow into something much larger in the studio.
Working with producer Anthony Lopardo at WestFall adds another dimension. Lopardo often introduces ideas she might not have considered herself, encouraging her to open her mind and think beyond her original concept.
For Calliope, songwriting isn’t simply a matter of putting words to music. It’s an evolving process in which a single sentence or melody can become something with layers of sound, emotion, and meaning.
Fade and Wither: The Courage to Look Inward
Released in 2025, Calliope’s debut EP, Fade and Wither, follows a four-part conceptual journey: The Disruption, The Confrontation, The Reckoning, and The Release.
The structure reflects her own experiences of letting go of what she once knew, growing into something new, and learning to navigate the process of healing. It also required a willingness to examine her own actions rather than simply assign blame elsewhere.
Calliope explains that the EP asks listeners to look inward, acknowledge their faults, and consider the part they play in difficult relationships. Instead of focusing exclusively on heartbreak caused by someone else, the songs explore personal responsibility, self-love, and the uncomfortable work of understanding another person’s perspective.
That introspection reaches its culmination in the closing track, “Fade and Wither (Outro).” The song brings the EP together by overlapping elements from the other tracks, creating a musical conclusion to the journey.
One lyric, in particular, remains close to her heart: “Can I keep the people in my life I hurt?”
It’s a question that doesn’t offer an easy answer. It asks listeners to consider the consequences of their own actions while acknowledging that everyone involved in a broken relationship may be hurting.
As Calliope puts it, “It takes two people to break a heart in half.”
It’s an honest perspective, and one that helps distinguish Fade and Wither from a collection of conventional love-and-heartbreak songs. The EP isn’t simply about what happens when relationships fall apart; it’s about what we learn when we’re willing to examine ourselves.
The Muses: More Than a Backing Band
Behind Calliope’s vision is a group of musicians she describes not merely as bandmates, but as friends and family.
The project began taking shape in November 2024 with Alexis Haas on drums, Kaity Danielsen on bass, and Jaclyn Barbieri on lead and rhythm guitar. Ava Lena joined a few months later, contributing backing vocals, keyboards, and harmonies. In May 2026, Ianni Kay became a permanent member of the live lineup, handling rhythm and lead guitar.
The current lineup brings together:
- Calliope Wren — lead vocals
- Alexis Haas — drums
- Jaclyn Barbieri — lead and rhythm guitar
- Ianni Kay — rhythm and lead guitar
- Kaity Danielsen — bass
- Ava Lena — backing vocals, keyboards, and harmonies
Calliope says finding the right people took time. She wanted musicians who believed in what she was creating and shared her commitment to developing the project.
When Ava joined, Calliope felt she fit into the group like a missing puzzle piece. Ianni’s permanent addition brought another dimension to the lineup. Occasionally, Julian Sarabia fills in on drums or bass, depending on the needs of a performance.
Calliope acknowledges that these occasional substitutions can change the group’s all-female dynamic, but says the musicians who join them simply belong.
That sense of connection matters to her. Building a musical project requires more than individual talent; it requires people who trust one another, share a vision, and are willing to invest the time and energy needed to bring it to life.
From the Classroom to the Stage
Calliope studied musical theatre at Five Towns College, where vocal lessons, dance classes, and acting instruction formed a substantial part of her weekly routine.
That experience continues to influence how she approaches live performance.
“It taught me how to use a stage!” she said.
Musical theatre taught her to express emotion through movement, voice, and presence, and to embrace the dramatic possibilities of a performance. That training now informs her approach to original rock music, where the theatrical elements are becoming an increasingly important part of the Calliope Wren identity.
The production has evolved considerably over the past year. What began as a smaller band has developed into a six-person live production incorporating in-ear monitors, backing vocals, synthesizers, and visual elements.
Ianni operates the in-ear monitoring system, allowing the musicians to hear themselves alongside clicks, cues, and additional elements that help reproduce the studio arrangements onstage. The group has also begun incorporating visuals, including music videos and other imagery, to expand the performance beyond the music alone.
Calliope emphasizes the work that goes into each rehearsal, recording session, and creative decision. She wants audiences to experience something that stays with them after the final note.
Her ambition is clear: she doesn’t want people leaving a show thinking only that they’ve seen a band perform. She wants them to feel they’ve been transported somewhere else.
That goal helps explain why the costumes, mythology, music, and production are all connected. They’re different parts of a larger artistic vision.
A Paramore Connection
Calliope also fronts DECODED: A Paramore Experience, a tribute to a band that has had a significant influence on her musical development.
Performing Paramore’s material offers her a different kind of creative satisfaction. She gets to celebrate music that inspired her while sharing the experience with musicians who appreciate it just as much.
She jokes about putting on the iconic orange Hayley Williams wig and performing those familiar songs with people who love them as much as she does.
Yet the connection extends beyond nostalgia. Calliope says the tribute project inspires her to work harder and dream bigger. It also reinforces a lesson she has learned through both projects: the importance of surrounding herself with people who believe in the music and want to build something together.
And she has a particularly ambitious thought about the future. Just as there are tribute acts celebrating established artists, she hopes that one day there might be a Calliope Wren cover band of its own.
It’s an amusing possibility, but it also reveals how seriously she takes the long-term potential of her original work.
The Next Chapter: A Debut Album
Calliope is currently in the studio working on her debut album, and she says the project has evolved considerably since Fade and Wither was released.
The expanded live production, visual presentation, costumes, and increasingly defined artistic identity have all contributed to that growth. She also feels the process has helped clarify her own sense of who she is and who she wants to become.
She describes building something meaningful as a gradual process, with each step offering its own rewards.
The new music, she says, will reveal a bolder, more unapologetic, and fiercer side of Calliope Wren. While Fade and Wither looked back on personal experiences and the process of healing, the upcoming material promises to reflect an artist continuing to discover what she wants to say and how she wants to say it.
Her ambitions reach well beyond Long Island. She hopes to establish a stronger presence in the rock and metal scenes, connect with festivals and venues outside New York, and eventually open for established artists on tour.
She believes the project has something special to offer and wants to put it in front of as many people as possible.
For an artist who began by turning unspoken thoughts into songs, that next step means finding a larger audience willing to listen.
More Than a Performance
Watching Calliope Wren and The Muses at Stereo Garden offered a glimpse of a project that is still evolving. The musicianship was tight, the presentation was theatrical, and the costumes offered a visual expression of the mythology-inspired identity Calliope hopes to develop further.
But her answers revealed what lies beneath the surface: an artist who draws from personal experience, is willing to examine uncomfortable truths, and sees music as a way to communicate what ordinary conversation sometimes cannot.
Her ambitions are substantial, but her approach remains rooted in the people around her, the songs she creates, and the gradual work of building something meaningful.
The debut album is on the way. The live production continues to grow. And the world of Calliope Wren is becoming more clearly defined with every step.
For Calliope, the goal is not simply to have people hear her music. It’s to give them an experience — one that invites them to feel something, reflect on their own lives, and step for a little while into a world of her own making.
And if she has her way, Long Island will be only the beginning.
