The Brooklyn musician builds her tracks through loops and layers of her voice, instruments and sounds. The vocal ambience that results is ethereal and lithe, without words or constructed lyrics.
A lot of the discourse around her music, and therefore Barwick herself, makes her sound magical and otherworldly, something she rejects. “I’m definitely influenced by my two decades of singing with my church congregation, singing hymns and church songs filled with spirituality. Singing with a group of people a cappella has definitely influenced my music. Maybe I’m channeling something unintentionally to make music, but I don’t know about that.”
Earlier this year, Barwick’s third studio album Will was released, taking a rougher around the edges approach than her more polished 2013 release Nepenthe. Over nearly a decade of songwriting, her process has grown and changed, but remains innately on her own terms.
“I don’t plan anything out, I can plug in my stuff and start playing around, find something I like, and go from there. Whether that’s just me sitting at the piano and taking the first thing that comes out of my head and playing with that. That’s where it all starts.
“In the beginning it was very experimental, I’d just learned how to use a loop pedal, I was completely entering a new world. Over the years with the albums I’ve got a different footing, and I approach songwriting a little differently, but not too differently. I’ve incorporated a lot more instruments in my music. I’ve gone places to record, whereas my first three releases were recorded in Brooklyn. It’s developed over time just like anything does, but I’m still rooted quite heavily on recording on the spot, doing improv and seeing what comes up.”
Recording with other people has developed her songwriting even more. “One thing I learnt is, because I record so much on the spot on my own, Alex showed me that some of the stuff I’d recorded wasn’t in any key, so I’d have to rerecord it in a key so we could play over it. I’d done stuff on my own for so long that I didn’t think it was a possibility, being in a studio as a teenage girl, suddenly going from recording in my bedroom to directing people, it was a huge change. I learned to talk in front of people and instruct.”
Despite her genre being so deliciously left of centre, Barwick herself is not a diehard fan of ambient music.
“I can appreciate it, and I really like a lot of it, but I’m more into pop or current music. I’ve been listening to the new James Blake and Angel Olsen since May. Ambient music is not really what I’m immersed in.”
Her voice lights up when she talks about her dreams for the future, particularly that she’d love to take her voice and sound to the screen, and write a soundtrack.
“I want to do that, more than anything. I really hope that works out. My number one favourite soundtrack of all time is Empire of the Sun. A lot of strings, a lot of choral parts, that’s what I’d love to do.”
BY CLAIRE VARLEY
