Start Listening To: BARRIE

BARRIE introduces us to ‘Barbara’, the experimental indie alter-ego.

On ‘Barbara’ BARRIE builds on two so-powerful and contrasting concepts of love and grief, filling between them like a two-sided coin. She ventures out of the more of an easy-going, and music industry-pleasing, the excitement of a debut album, to show us her most emotional and vulnerable side. It’s still indie satisfying but with an experimental edge. As time passed and difficult feelings have started to fade, BARRIE learnt how to walk on that edge and made a record out of it. Now, she’s here to teach us the same.

Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

Hi, my name is Barrie Lindsay, I live in Brooklyn. I grew up in a small-ish town in Massachusetts making music in my parents’ garage, then making music in college, and now making music as my job! My music has been described in the past as “indie pop,” and I agree, but the new record has a more raw, slightly more experimental sound than just straight indie pop. Essentially, the music I make is just exactly what I want to make, and I leave it up to people like you to tell me what genre it is.

How are you feeling about the release of your new album ‘Barbara’?

I’m very proud of the album, so I’m excited to get it out in the world. On this record, I also challenged myself to focus on aspects of music making that I haven’t before. I also explored some emotional and storytelling roads I’ve not been willing to go down in the past, so that’s new and exciting for me.

Can you tell us more about the themes behind your new record?

The two pillars of the album are love and grief. While I was writing the album, I was falling in love and also experienced heavy loss. Those themes leaked into my songwriting, lyrics, and musical choices.

Can you tell us more about how you produce your music?

I’m at the point with production where I can make the outlines for songs relatively quickly, making gut-based decisions. If something feels good, I roll with it. I’ve spent a lot of years honing the sounds that I like, so now I have a library of textures that I draw from. My songwriting process is production-forward; I use layering and my DAW to write, while song structure and lyrics come later in the process.

What inspires your music?

Writing music is kind of compulsion at this point. I’ve always been drawn to more solitary work, so making music alone in my garage always made sense and felt safe to me growing up. Now, I get inspired by lots of things. I try to write down phrases that sound good when I come by them, and I often feel the urge to write after I’ve seen another band’s live show, or heard a new record from one of my peers.

How has your songwriting developed since the release of your debut album?

On the last record, I was interested in breaking into the music world. I wanted the music to be accessible and feel good and exciting, but also easy to listen to. On this new album, I was more willing to be vulnerable and emotional. Lately, I’ve been feeling compelled by music that doesn’t sound like anything else I’ve heard, or if it does, it’s the best possible version of that thing. I’ve been more tuned into lyrics, and have been, in turn, thinking more about the lyrical component of songwriting. It was also important to me to try to shed any focus on how the songs would be received. I had a lot of help from my wife, and she kept me honest with that.

You worked with mixer Joseph Lorge (Phoebe Bridgers, Perfume Genius) on your new album. What was it like working with him?

 Joseph is incredible! He has infinite patience, which is a great quality in a mix engineer. And he’s down to try out any idea. He’s so good at giving any mix I gave him lots of space and depth. He’s very humble and very talented. I got the pleasure of working with him in two ways: he mixed the entire record and he recorded the drums for a few songs in his studio at Sound City in Los Angeles. Joseph was recommended to me by Christian Lee Hutson, who couldn’t stop raving about him. We hit it off right away, really spoke each others’ language, and I had a great time working with him.

Can you tell us something interesting about yourself that doesn’t have anything to do with music?

I’m Canadian. 

What advice would you give for anyone trying to achieve a similar sound to you?

It’s helpful to have a sound in mind to aim for, but roll with whatever actually comes out. It’s boring to sound like someone else. I try to sound like other people all the time, but it’s the most successful when I fail at it.

How has New York influenced your music? 

Being in New York and finding a community here has given me confidence that has found its way into my music. I’m more willing to run with ideas and experiments that I might have been shy about in the past.

Do you have any funny memories from recording the album?

Not really, actually. I’d say that most of my memories from recording the album run the gamut of almost every other emotional experience except funny, lol.

If your music were a film or TV show which would it be?

Honestly, over the last several years I’ve been watching really light, feel good TV and films, so I’d say my music is like a thoughtful, somewhat dark, but also joyous rom-com, like Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s important to you?

Metamorphosis by Hilary Duff. I loved her music growing up, it’s so fun and catchy. I still think it’s got great melodies, great song construction, and great variety of production.

What do you hate right now?

Dandruff.

What do you love right now?

Chocolove Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate bars.

What comes next in the Barrie story?

Hopefully, a lot of touring, covid permitting!