Barbara

Description

On Barbara, the second album following the acclaimed Happy To Be Here released in 2019, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and producer Barrie grapples with the loss of a parent, the beginning of a new relationship, and the desire to separate herself from her music. The result is a collection of songs that reflect a newfound willingness to let listeners into her world. Two events redefined Barrie Lindsay's life and shaped the direction of Barbara. In the summer of 2019, she met her future wife, musician Gabby Smith. Simultaneously, Lindsay's father learned that his lung cancer had worsened. In January 2020, she moved to Ipswich to spend time with her family and begin working on her album. Three months turned into nine, thanks to the pandemic. Barrie wrote Barbara while quarantining with Gabby in Maine, as her father was dying and she was falling in love. The catharsis of the despair of losing a parent is heard on the album's centerpiece, "Dig." Her newfound boldness is heard as she wails the song's central refrain, surrendering to emotion. Despite the grief, both personal and collective, felt during the creation of Barbara, Barrie often pauses to embrace joy. "Jenny" is a simple ode to meeting Gabby, played on acoustic guitar. Similarly, her fantasy of a romantic yet bloody afternoon, "Quarry," resonates strangely and aquatically, before bursting into an euphoric geyser of synth and drums. While mixed by Joseph Lorge (Phoebe Bridgers, Perfume Genius) and mastered by Patricia Sullivan (Mac Miller, Blake Mills), Barbara was entirely written, conceived, and produced by Barrie herself. During the creation of the record, Barrie gathered nearly a dozen instruments, including a dulcimer, a mandolin, a clarinet, a flute, a cello, a trumpet, and her grandmother's harp, to create the beautifully singular blend of art pop, indie rock, and wonderful folk of Barbara.