When Christa and Jay met in Miami during the pandemic, music wasn’t even on the table. They simply connected as two people navigating an uncertain time, falling in love long before either realized the other was a musician. Discovering that shared passion came later, like finding a hidden room in a house they’d already moved into, turning a quiet personal bond into a deeply creative partnership. Jay, whose background spans radio and music production, found himself inspired to step back into creating music by Christa’s talent and songwriting.

Once the music started flowing, their styles clicked seamlessly. Christa brought a rich foundation forged during her time studying in Boston at Berklee College of Music and Boston University—a period spent refining her open-mic chops and developing her acoustic storytelling style (including her solo work, The Stars Before They Burn), anchored by the smoky vocal intimacy of Norah Jones. Jay brought his sharp production ear, sharing a mutual appreciation for stripped-down, authentic recording.

To protect their vision of honest, handcrafted music, they launched their independent label, Maiden Brain Sounds. Under this umbrella, they maintain complete creative independence, handling everything from song arrangements to physical artwork.

A Live Band at Heart

At their core, Christa and Jay are a live band. Their approach relies on tracking live to capture that genuine, unvarnished energy—because that’s where they sound the most like themselves. That ethos is the foundation for their Maiden Brain Sounds release, The Setlist. Inspired by the raw, acoustic energy of Jason Mraz’s live performances, they chose to keep the record strictly focused on guitars and vocals, pairing that drive with the spacious, high-altitude recording feel of Gregory Alan Isakov and classic mountain country to give every arrangement room to breathe. Rather than a scattered collection of tracks, The Setlist is curated like a complete night out, purposefully ordered to be experienced from start to finish. Alongside reimagined favorites, the album includes tracks never released online—capturing that rare concert magic where a song belongs, if only for a few minutes, solely to you and the room.

In case you’re wondering what’s the next best thing to seeing them play live, they have just released a video that comes from a live session, it’s on YouTube and you can watch it here. 

Catch a Towers of Babel live set at the Legion Park Farmers Market

Beyond the record, Christa and Jay are deeply invested in the local Miami music scene, championing collaboration, unity, and genuine artist-to-artist connection across the city.

They’ve extended that ethos to how they distribute their music. Under Maiden Brain Sounds, they produced a small, limited physical run of The Setlist made straight from their hands to yours. On Saturday mornings, you can find Towers of Babel set up at the Legion Park Farmers Market, bringing copies of the album directly to the neighborhood right under the trees. They also do a Clothing Swap event every last Saturday of the month.

If you’re out taking in the morning this Saturday, swing by, pick up a copy of The Setlist, and say hi!