Barrie has released her new video for the track titled ‘Concrete’, from her upcoming album ‘Barbara’, out March 25th via Winspear.
Filmed as a performance piece in synchronicity with the song, the video as visual art is pulled off masterfully. Simply put: this song is beautiful. It seems fitting that the video is bare and the visual stark while concentrating on the performers. The song can be interpreted as you will and is limited only by your imagination. But, with ‘Concrete’ that imagination is limited only by your desire. I will say it again: this is a beautiful song. Let it ingest you and take your mind to another place.
‘Concrete’ is about finding who you are. Who am I? That is the question we inevitably ask ourselves at a certain moment in our lives. To find something to fill that void. Let this song fill that void. Fill it with ‘Concrete’.
Check out our other features with Barrie HERE.
About ‘Concrete’
“Concrete” is the latest preview of Barrie’s new album Barbara. Barbara finds Barrie in open conversation with the listener as she wrestles with thorny questions of love, loss, work, art, and the spiritual struggles of the modern world. Written during a complicated personal journey that saw her processing grief in the wake of her father’s death while simultaneously falling for her now wife, the songs are vulnerable yet direct, tracking the considered but confident steps one takes into a more realized self.
Written, orchestrated, and produced entirely by Barrie herself, Barbara is as bold sonically as it is emotionally. Barrie collected nearly a dozen instruments to create the ambitious, emotive soundscapes of Barbara: Sweeping reimagining of new romanticism (“Quarry”), pleading acoustic gems (“Jenny”), foreboding and glitchy post-pop (“Basketball”), and euphoric breakbeats (“Frankie”) coexist in an eclectic yet focused collection that heralds Barrie’s artistic maturation. Read more about Barbara in an interview feature for Paper HERE.
Barrie is currently gearing up for 2022 headline shows in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco plus Midwest dates with Sunflower Bean, SXSW, and a run of UK record store shows around album release. Full dates below.
About ‘Barbara’
On March 25, songwriter and producer Barrie Lindsay will release Barbara, her first record since 2019’s highly acclaimed debut, Happy To Be Here. It’s an album that heralds a radical transformation: Lyrics previously whispered between melodic synths and hazy backbeats now rise to the forefront, telling highly personal tales of love and loss atop intense blends of instrumentation. A deeply personal record written in the wake of her father’s passing and the midst of falling in love with her now wife, Gabby, Barbara brings to life Barrie’s inner world with newfound boldness.
Says Barrie about the album: “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.”
Today’s single release “Quarry” showcases Barrie’s intrepid new sound, telling a tale of a romantic but bloodied afternoon atop erratic production. Opening somewhat eerily, forlorn synths wander through an aqueous soundscape before erupting into a full-force revelation. As euphoric “I love you’s” and the crashing of breakbeat drums fade into a gently pattering heartbeat, Barrie leaves the listener with a delicate yet well-earned sense of hope.
Featured image by Alexa Viscius.
Tracklist For Barbara
- Jersey
- Frankie
- Jenny
- Concrete
- Dig
- Bully
- Harp 2 Interlude
- Harp 2
- Quarry
- Basketball
- Bloodline
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