Sophie Burbery named herself after her cat, after she and collaborator Conrad Wedde (of The Phoenix Foundation) decided she needed to record her electro-pop under a pseudonym. When it came time to take her music seriously she stopped working and focussed on treating her music like a full-time job instead.
Photo: Puck Murphy
Little Bark uses a Juno-6 synthesiser and Nord wave for sampling other people’s synthesisers. She’s aware it’s a “gear nerds” conversation but knowing what you’re working with is the key to getting the sound right: “I’m a big fan of the old analogue synths so not the plug-in synthesisers, if you can help it”. That’s the difference with a “synthesiser which still has valves and runs essentially the same way as an amp for a guitar”.
Little Bark’s sound defies the idea that electronic music is emotionally detached. Burbery says that while her last album Hope is Rubbery was written with a persona in mind, her new release Unique Sonic Broadcast – USB – was written from the heart. On this one, she says, she wanted to be as honest as possible.
LISTEN to the full interview with Matthew Crawley:
