NYC songwriter Barrie Lindsey has announced her new album as Barrie: it’s called Barbara and comes out on March 25 through Winspear. Giving us a little insight into the record, she says:
“The album is diaristic, but not in obvious or intimate ways. Music is my job, and it’s also intensely personal. I want the music to connect with people, but have reservations about the toll it takes on the artist to have to live up to whatever the music ends up representing for the listener. To connect with people about grief is beautiful, but I don’t want to relive the trauma of it at every show and interview. I also don’t want to become desensitized to my sadness. There’s both rawness and a measure of control in the album; I want to make sure the project and the person are tied, but only by certain limbs.
“Since I wrote, played, and produced the album by myself in isolation, with the help of my wife, it felt like it should be self-titled, but maintain that same sense of separation I achieved with the music. Barbara is my legal name, my formal name. No one calls me Barbara except the bank and the government, and odd occasions when my dad inexplicably introduced me that way to friends. Since my name and moniker are Barrie, calling the album Barbara felt like the fitting way to keep that balance between intimate and public.”
She’s also followed up recent singles “Dig” and “Frankie” with a new one called “Quarry”, saying: “Quarry is about falling in love in an isolated environment. There’s a surreal quality to the experience, but also explosive joy.”
Floating atop a lightly billowing arrangement of pastel synths, Barrie’s voice and words carefully evoke soft and comfortable atmosphere – it feels like those moments just before you wake up, when everything is perfect. As the drums kick the song into gear, the harsh edges of reality come into focus, and with them the stresses of real life. But Barrie maintains an upbeat mood throughout “Quarry”, describing a hazardous trip to a quarry for some fun – which could be either literal or figurative, it’s hard to say, but there’s definitely blood involved. Overall, “Quarry” leaves us feeling that, while Barrie has several weights on her shoulders, she knows that solace in the arms of the one she loves is on hand, whenever she needs it.
Watch the video for “Quarry” below, or listen to it on streaming platforms.
Barrie’s new album Barbara comes out on March 25 through Winspear (pre-order/save).
