Two years into the freeform arena of band life, Barbara is continually building a sound cultivated through exploring paths presented by instruments foreign to their classically developed skills. Anna, Bridget, and Camilla, having gone through high formal music education in classical and jazz stylings, iterate on their musical journeys to lay the ground floor for their latest sonic endeavor.
“During covid, we’d just go to the basement and jam,” says Bridget when recanting the seeds that formed the band before me. It was a much needed reprieve from the constraints endemic to the more formal stylings they’ve excelled at for years. Camilla added, “We all play different instruments than the ones we studied in school so in a way, we were healing from music school and healing our relationship with music by learning our instruments at the same time, and Barbara was born from that.”
Barbara stands as a bastion of expression liberated from the regimented nature of certain musical stylings that while sensational in their own right, can lead one to feel that they’ve been too “industrialized”, remarked Anna when reflecting on motivating factors for the band. Moreso, the duality of loving music and facing difficult experiences being women in their respective areas of expertise within the historical boys club of classical and jazz music are pain points alleviated in the pressure free environment of a band composed of your best friends.
We all know the seldom achieved in adulthood, childlike the emotions of exploration and creativity that lift the spirit. Barbara has managed to cultivate a space emblematic of this very energy. “You find an idea with your new instrument and that sounds good and you’re like cool this is the only idea I can play right now and you feel like a high schooler playing in your garage again.” Channeling the raw emotion often placed to the side by us all, they encapsulate their lives by writing about that which they’ve been through and are processing.
With the mindset of being “ok with sounding really bad in front of each other”, they’re working towards the common goal of presenting their ideas in a way that feels most accurate to the emotions they sprang from. They’ve created a space where the creative process can flourish in the most amorphous sense as they know that all listening ears are there to nourish the project.
“When we write, we talk about how it’s already there and we’re pulling puzzle pieces out of thin air and that’s not a feeling you get a lot so when you do, it’s euphoric.”
Barbara is working on album two at the moment. This project will be a bit “heavier and a bit more psychy” as they’re growing with their instruments and their chemistry in the room evolves. Their first project was born of their love of musical exploration and project number two carries that same passion with a honed direction into the future.
To learn more, visit GoBarbaraGo.com
Three person bands are great, have two-of-three votes.