You might catch Julia Mark out slaying the open mic circuit with her warm, enticing vocals and rich piano driven songs. You may catch her supporting her friends and contemporaries, like Ruby Rose Fox, adding depth and strength to their songs with her harmonies. Or you might catch her headlining at Club Passim for the release for her debut full length record “Gemini” on January 30th (you really can, and you can get tickets right here).
Wherever you see Julia play one thing is certain, she will grip you with the endearing qualities of her voice and storied songs. We caught up with her to talk briefly about songwriting, the new record and the release show. Check it out below.
RLR: Tell me a little about your writing process. How do you typically unearth your ideas? Are you a “sit down and complete a tune from first to last note” or more of a compile over time and pull it all together later
JM: For me, songwriting feels like wandering through a dark forest waiting for the sun to rise. I stumble over images, sounds, and textures until finally a meaningful path emerges. A song might be sparked by a melody I made up while driving. Or, I’ll sit down at the piano and figure out a chord progression and improvise words over it. Sometimes, I’ll sing an opening lyric and then have to ask myself, “Okay, what does that mean? Where is the metaphor leading?” Once I have the basic outline of the song, I’ll work on each section more closely. Then, after about fifty voice memo recordings, a song emerges and I’m out of the forest.
RLR: ‘The Stranger is You’ is the first single off of the record. It is a real appealing, somewhat curious, title. There is always a line the grabs me in a first listen of a song. That line for me was ” Somebody else’s mail is sitting in the box / Got new keys on the chain because they changed the locks “. I feel like I could look at that in two ways. A direct, straightforward story of leaving an old home behind and maybe yearning for it or perhaps, a little deeper as a metaphor for a relationship. Where were you at when you were writing this song?
JM: At the time I was writing the song, a few of my dear friends had childhood homes that were sold, and an elderly family friend was leaving his home after many decades. Although my parents still live in the place where they raised me, I wrote the verses with my own childhood in mind and got proactively nostalgic about it. So, there’s that clear narrative around leaving a home that holds a great deal of memories and feeling removed from it for the first time.
The other layer is a broader fascination around shared spaces. I’m intrigued that a single location (like a restaurant, a street corner, or a house) can elicit a range of emotions for different people, and every day new memories are created there. It’s like this with music, too as a single song can draw out a variety of associations. For example, although I didn’t write the bridge with a romantic relationship in mind, “Somebody else’s mail is sitting in the box / Got new keys on the chain because they changed the locks” could totally be applied to a breakup. Another friend told me she used to also hide letters in the floorboards. Just like a house, a song has both windows and mirrors – we can view someone else’s perspective through it but also see ourselves within it.
RLR: What are you most excited about from the release of this album?
JM: Earlier this year, I found a note-to-self from 2013. It read, “Goal: At some point, make a full-length album, possibly with a band”. And now, here I am getting ready to release Gemini! This project is my largest musical undertaking so far. I worked with a whole crew of creative, patient, and talented folks to create the best possible version of these songs. I can’t wait to share this part of my musical journey with whoever is willing to listen.
RLR: If there was one song from this record that you hoped would stand the test of time and people would still be listening to and enjoying in 100 years what song would it be and why?
JM: I hope it would be my optimistically apocalyptic song, “See You on the Moon”. Because if 100 years from now people are listening to it, then that means: humans still exist, humans still listen to music, and perhaps we haven’t destroyed the planet.
RLR: What can we expect from this release show?
JM: Zak Trojano from Western, MA is a favorite musician of mine and he’ll be kicking off the night. He’s a man of wisdom and humor and we hail from different musical traditions, which I enjoy. My set will feature a full band (Forrest Pettengill on bass, David Brophy on drums, and two other singers, Mally Smith and Joanna Schubert), which is a special treat! Plus, my parents and brother will be there so you can meet the whole Mark/Oniki family and get a glimpse into why I am the way I am.
RLR: A big part of RLR is community and fostering some sense of it within the New England music landscape. How have you found that community to have impacted you as an artist?
JM:Making a record highlighted the interconnected and supportive nature of the New England music community. Every person who contributed to this album I met through a random series of events, because people were open to making connections and investing time into each other’s art. For example, I met the producer/engineer John Escobar (based in Watertown, MA) at the Plymouth Folk & Blues Festival in Vermont where he run sound!
The funding behind the album was made possible the Iguana Fund/Club Passim and the generosity of Kickstarter backers, friends, and family. It not easy to put yourself and your music out into the world, but it helps to know that other folks are cheering you on.
RLR: Anything else you really want to plug?
JM: I’m playing a bunch of shows this winter and Spring throughout New England and in NY/PA. You can keep up to date through my mailing list www.JuliaMarkMusic.com/contact or through social media (www.facebook.com/JuliaMarkMusic or @JuliaMarkMusic)