We spoke to 26-year-old Bristol-born multi-instrumentalist, electronic artist Barnaby Carter who told us how he got into electronic music, his music creation process and what inspired him along the way.
Featuring intimate beats and a positive melancholy, Carter’s upcoming album “While It Still Blooms” is out this Friday via Project Mooncircle.
Tell us about you, how long have you been producing music? What did inspire you to start?
So I’m 26 now and I’ve been writing music since a young teenager. Starting off on drums and guitar, playing in bands etc. Then gradually moving onto ‘electronic’ music. I sometimes reference a tape that was handed down to me from my father – Future Sound of London – Accelerator. Loved it. I then became an apprentice in a Piano Workshop, I tinkled and began sampling percussive sounds and incorporating this into the ‘production’ side of things.
What inspired me to start? Well at home I guess music was always on growing up, and good music too. Dub, Hip Hop, a real variety. My parents guided me early on and I’m thankful.
The music industry is super competitive these days, was there a moment in your life that you wanted to give up on music? How did you manage to stay focused and achieve what you want?
Having become increasingly unwilling to veer from my ambitions in recent years, I look back further and I can see then that, despite a few periods of inactivity, I have managed to maintain my focus pretty consistently. At this point in time I try to live simply, I want to be creative, I go to the football on a Saturday. Longer term I have aspirations of where I would like to be, including renting a small studio space for music / painting or piano restorations.
How would you describe your creative processes? Who writes the lyrics to the songs? Are the music and lyrics written in conjunction, or separately? Where does the inspiration come from?
It sounds a little trite but it can be quite meditative. Initially, I just keep layering instruments and ideas, sometimes collaboratively, and then figure it all out and trim later. As most musicians do I guess. When you’re immersed though, it’s a good feeling.
What’s your favourite track from the upcoming album and what other bands/artists are you listening to right now?
My personal favourite is ‘Your Greatest Gift’. I had a couple of productive writing sessions with Alex Garden, a great local violinist and I’m grateful for his input into the album. Really pleased with how this one evolved.
I’ve also been listening to the Eclectic Soul selections by Gelivan, which I highly recommend.
What’s next for you?
Since writing the album I’ve had a little break, turning my hand at some painting. Some writing too but up next is the release of ‘While It Still Blooms’ on the 28th October. My first LP which gets the double 12” treatment via Project Mooncircle. Really pleased with it and I hope people enjoy listening.
Pre-order “While It Still Blooms” here.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barnabycarterbristol/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/barnabyacarter
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/barnycarter
