Jammerzine has an exclusive interview with Tamar Berk, as well as the special treat of her new album ‘Good Times For A Change’ as well as her new video for the track titled ‘Good Impression’, both releasing this Friday.
Tamar is one of those artists that I’ve had the rare privilege to watch grow, both musically and professionally, with a sound that has become all her own. It’s a hard thing to combine originality with accessibility but she has done that and more. Her new album, ‘Good Times For A Change’, is a natural evolution from her last album ‘Tiny Injuries’, yet seems as natural as it does signature.
And I get to talk with Tamar about that new album, her career, and everything indie and where her music is taking her. More a good and in depth conversation between friends as it is an interview to learn from if you are an indie artist.
Check out our other features with Tamar Berk HERE.
‘Good Times For A Change’
‘Good Times For A Change’ is a crossroad of an album for Tamar Berk, in a matter of sense. She seems to have found a happier place at the beginning of the end of a transition. Life changes and lessons learned happen to all of us. Become the best and worst in all of us. But it’s our perception and character that pull us through or pull us down. How we get up or lay down is up to us, in the end. Tamar knows that, and more. Each track is a chapter of that glorious book of transition and transformation. A ray of light of hope for all of us who dare listen.
Musically, there is a truly endearing quality to Tamar’s music. She has that heart for the hook. Enough mainstay to show relevance yet enough snark and rebellion to give everything a bit of grit and gray areas to keep the canvas colorful. While each song tells a story, there is a distinct vibe and virtue with every note and lyric. These songs were felt and remembered as they were written. They were recorded out of a pure love for music.
‘Good Times For A Change’ could be in any track listing order. Every song could be a single and each song has that hook to make it so. But ‘Good Times For A Change’, in this order, brings a journey to a level of completeness. Combine this with ‘Tiny Injuries’ and you have a musical evolution from an artist who is spiritually in a state of change.
‘Good Impression’ Video
About Tamar Berk & ‘Good Times For A Change’
Tamar Berk has been playing in bands in Chicago, Portland and San Diego since the mid-90s. During those years she was consistently writing, recording & producing hundreds of songs on her own. Following a move to San Diego, she made the decision to release her first solo album with the help of drummer Matt Walker (Morrissey, Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins) & engineer Sean O’Keefe (Fall Out Boy, Beach Bunny).
In February 2021, she released her debut full-length, The Restless Dreams of Youth which was nominated for Best Pop Album & Album of the Year in the San Diego Music Awards. Several months after the release of her debut, Berk’s father died. While processing this loss, she began work on her follow-up album. Released in April 2022, her sophomore album Start at the End found the singer handling more of the recording and production duties.
This album found Berk transforming her grief into emotive anthems rife with classic power pop & indie rock sensibilities. Start at the End was also nominated as Best Pop Album in the SDMA’s & garnered rave reviews. In August 2023, she returned w/ her third full-length album, Tiny Injuries which reached a larger audience than her 2 prior albums. The single “if u know, u know” landed in KCRW 5 songs to hear & on FADER’s list of top albums of 2023. This year she will be releasing her 4th full length album “good times for a change” on Sept 6 followed by show in Chicago at Lincoln Hall on Sept. 28.
“After my last album “Tiny Injuries” was released in 2023, I could feel myself slowly emerging from the dark cave of grief. Some days I would feel more positive and excited about things, but then other days I would take ten steps back and be right back there. I desperately want to change, to feel okay, and there is also a side of me that wants to hold onto the sadness. Sometimes holding onto the sadness of loss is the only thing that keeps that person around, and I struggle with the fear of forgetting them. All the songs on “Good Times for a Change” feel like meditations on being somewhere in between the willingness to let go, and the desire to hold on… a time capsule of the internal dialogue I have with myself everyday.”
Tamar Berk
LINKS:
https://tamarberk.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/TamarBerkMusic
https://soundcloud.com/tamar-berk
https://www.instagram.com/tamarberkmusic
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcWZ8eEq0W5bxexMyWRi6Kw
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2A3VeCpyVPOSRW4woZXt8q
