Words/ Rachel June
Tara Nome Doyle released her third album, Ekko – listen here. Enter the wonderland that is Ekko – an experience, an encounter, a journey. Light, fairy-like melodies dance over entrancing vocals, and soothing synths join in, resulting in a wonderful flow of otherworldly noises that encapsulate you in a comforting trance. Tara’s vocals are soft and delicate, easily bouncing between notes. Her angelic voice is a lovely listen, so check her out on Instagram here. Imagine Florence and the Machine meets Birdy. ASBO caught up with her to ask about this release and her musicianship:
1. Who is Tara Nome Doyle?
I’m a Norwegian-Irish singer-songwriter based in Berlin.
2. For someone that is yet to discover you, how would you describe your music?
This is always such a difficult thing to answer, but maybe Indie/Alternative Singer-Songwriter Art Pop?
3. What inspired you as an artist?
I’m very inspired by ancient wisdom, philosophy, nature psychology and weaving them together my own experiences.
4. What Is Your Pre-Show Routine?
Smelling lavender oil, vocal warm-ups, stretching.
5. Where do you feel you fit into the music landscape?
I feel like there is a female-led movement into emotional experimental art pop – I’m thinking of artists like Caroline Polachek and FKA Twigs but also Aldous Harding, Susanne Sundfør and Anna von Hausswolff. I’d like to see myself among these seemingly intuition driven artists and vocalists.
6. What are your favourite musical genres, and are there any you dislike?
I love art pop, lyric heavy singer-songwriter music, a capella, musical, rap, soul music and traditional Irish & Norwegian folk music.
A genre that I’ve had some negative experiences with – when it’s not done right – is Reggae.
7. Is there a story behind your name ?
Its simply my name, but I like that it tells a story about my heritage: ‘Tara’ and ‘Doyle’ are both very Irish names, while ’Nome’ is the place where part of my Norwegian had (and still has) their farm.
8. What would you say is your greatest strength as an artist? What is your weakness?
I think I’m good at following and thereby creating a natural flow when writing songs – they don’t necessarily adhere to industry expectations but work in their own special way.
My weakness is the other side of that coin – sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing and that can make it difficult to know how to fix/improve arrangements.
9. Song on repeat right now?
‘Little Twirl’ by Juni Habel
10. What music artists would you say have influenced your work?
Definitely Susanne Sundfør, Damien Rice, Daughter, Marina and the Diamonds, Donny Hathaway and Kendrick Lamar.
11. Who would you most like to collaborate with artistically?
I’d love to collaborate with someone like Olafur Arnalds and Damien Rice or work with a producer like John Parish.
12. Worst performance?
Probably when I performed to a crowd of one (my father) at an outdoor festival when it was raining.. Although it also felt quite funny!
13. Biggest obstacle & how did you overcome it?
I’ve struggled with an anxiety disorder since I was 16 and of course that also makes traveling and performing live very challenging. But after going back to therapy recently I really feel like I’ve entered a new chapter. I honestly haven’t felt this good since I was 16. So this is your sign to go (back) to therapy – don’t settle for a life of constant struggle!
14. What is your creative process when making music? Do you work with others or is it just you?
I tend to collect phrases, images and melody ideas over several months and when I get some time to settle down (usually at the cabin in Norway) for a couple of days I write a lot of songs in a very short amount of time.
After I’ve finished writing the songs I often collaborate with producers & musicians like my friend Simon Goff to help arrange and record them.
15. This year, what can we expect?
My album ‘Ekko’ just came out and I’ll be going on an European tour in May which I’m really excited about! I’ve also just finished creating my first ever soundtrack which will probably release later in the year. So lots of stuff happening!
