The band is dropping a dreamy new indie-rock single, "For Good Measure," today, May 17. Co-produced by Jim Eno of Spoon and Briana Harris of the Burroughs, the song is part of Eno’s initiative Project Traction, which aims to close the gender gap in the music-production industry. Project Traction is geared toward empowerment, specifically for female and nonbinary musicians. According to Barbara lead singer Camilla Vaitaitis, “Jim is kicking off the second volume of this project in collaboration with the Music District in Fort Collins, so more Colorado bands and co-producers will be featured in the coming months.”
Born out of boredom and burnout, Barbara formed in the summer of 2020, when three University of Denver music students moved in together during the pandemic lockdowns. Drummer Anna Panella says the accomplished, formally trained musicians “all just really missed making music — you know, art for art’s sake,” and in the course of picking up new instruments, they found “the joy of making music again as a trio.” Putting down the saxophone, trombone and piano, they picked up guitar, bass and drums, and started a rock band. Vaitaitis adds that it all happened “in a supportive, safe environment to try things musically together.”
Tackling new instruments outside of formal instruction “has been a creatively freeing experience,” Vaitaitis says. The band's jazz-influenced, psychedelic-indie grunge is often simply structured yet richly textured. Such songs as “Currents” and “Glass Garden” have a soothing, hypnotic rhythm and lyrical structure, reflecting how the band’s deep musical knowledge blends with its curious-novice approach. Panella appreciates how that contrast produces innovation. “My favorite songs are so simple yet so effective," she says, "and not having mastery of our instruments allows us to play really simple stuff” that turns out to be quite appealing. Adding in the ethereal quality of Vaitaitis’s voice, the sound evokes dream-pop neo-psychedelia and is described on Barbara’s Bandcamp page as having “a sound that’s been lived in.”
That sound and the band's songwriting have both evolved over time, and the members' musical backgrounds bring an array of interests. Panella is a huge hip-hop fan, while Bridget Hartman’s bass lines are influenced by international rhythms and the Afrobeat sound of Mdou Moctar. Vaitaitis’s eclectic tastes go far beyond her master’s degree in jazz composition to include the Beatles, Elliott Smith and her “obsession with Brazilian music.” The Brazilian interest is clearly rooted in her jazz background, specifically the simple yet rich bossa nova style. "Jazz harmony permeates everything I do, because those are the voicings I taught myself when learning the guitar,” she explains.
Hartman adds that as the members' facility with new instruments improved, they have “bonded over songwriting,” realizing that mastery can sometimes inhibit creativity. “If we found something we liked, we stuck with it,” Hartman says, rather than endlessly reworking a piece. In doing so, Barbara arrived at a sound it describes as “music to feel things to.” That image was clear at the group's recent Lost Lake show, with the chill smiles and calm head nods of everyone in the crowd.
The band’s first album, Escape Artist, came out in September 2022. "We just had enough songs," Vaitaitis says, "so we said, 'Let’s do it.'” Along with DU friends Kevin Cincotta and Ethan Michael, who studied sound engineering, Barbara set up a studio at a cabin in Fairplay and recorded the debut in just three days.
The musicians met while studying at DU.
Jo Babb
Thematically, the album centers around anxiety: "It’s asking what are you escaping from,” Panella says, adding that the song “Houdini,” the original album title, is about “how you’re in a trap in the public eye, and how do you escape it and find success in life.” The band’s second LP, due out in early 2025, will build on the first, representing “growth and continuation” in a new era of the lives of the bandmembers, according to Panella.
That growth and transition is perfectly encapsulated by “For Good Measure,” which is about leaving the house and moving on in life. Vaitaitis sees the song as an “archway between the two themes” of the albums. Whereas Escape Artist was about processing life pressures and anxieties and finding safety in their home together, “the single is about moving out of the house Barbara shared for three years," she explains, and "the bittersweet feeling of leaving something so good behind, but knowing we're safe because of our deep friendships with each other.”
It’s that theme that likely resonated with Project Traction, because as Hartman notes, the project is about empowerment: "The three of us have been empowering each other for the past three years, learning new instruments and starting a band.”
Beyond recording the song, working with Eno and Harris was a great learning experience in the art of production. With the band’s expansive musical skills and growing connections in the music community, it seems likely the “Barbs” will continue to grow as musicians...and perhaps help close the gender gap in the world of music producing.
"For Good Measure" is available on all streaming platforms. Barbara can next be seen in Denver at the Underground Music Showcase, July 26-28.
