Q&A: meet EJ, our NZ friend who only uses voice and body percussion to create music

New Zealand’s EJ Barrett has released their debut track Paint Me A Picture and it’s a creative, unique piece in which EJ only uses voice and body percussion to create this saucy track. It gives us major Settle Down vibes by Kimbra.

EJ’s new track is a cry for communication that explores a world we don’t hear too much about. Some of the lyrics read “Paint me a picture of how you hold your wife at night, and how I might fit there too,”. It provokes conversation around the different types of relationships that are underrepresented in the community. EJ takes us on a journey to teach us about polyamorous relationships, and in particular triads or throuples.

Music has been apart of EJ’s life since before EJ was even born. Our favourite story to hear was, “My mother would play classical piano through the womb. That piano lived in my bedroom for the duration of early childhood,”. The Piano stayed in EJ’s bedroom for the first 7 years of their life. Sigh, I think my mum only blasted Kylie Minogue and Prince when I was in the womb.

We caught up with our New Zealand slice to talk about their new track, diversity in the music world and juggling parenthood and music.

Check out all that is EJ below. Here’s a snippet of our conversation

Hey EJ! Can you tell us a little bit about how you got into music?

Music has been in my life from conception. My mama used to play classical piano to me in the womb, and that piano lived in my bedroom until I was 7. I’ve immersed myself in movement and sound ever since, and I still have a piano in my bedroom now.
I took a good ten years off of music while my babies were all super young, but I’m back now to share a message that’s super close to my heart. I’m grateful to have been a young parent so that I can get back into this now.

Let’s talk about your new song that just dropped, what does this song mean to you?

It was written at the inception of a triad (three person relationship) I was a part of. It’s a request for communication, and an expression of excitement and sexual tension. Triads are notoriously difficult to navigate, I’ve read others say it’s like PhD level polyamory and my experience so far confirms this! That’s why I write about triads, they’ve incited some big feels. I prefer to form relationship clusters that are more open now, I need a broad and diverse support network that encourages personal autonomy. At the time that I wrote this song I was full of warm bubbly wonder about new possibilities, I love this memory so much and I’m glad I have this song to be able share this moment with you all.

Your sound is so fun and interesting, what kinds of things and people do you draw inspiration from?

I love the percussive sound of breath, so I use that in my loops a lot. I’m inspired by musicians that throw out random vocal sounds and magically piece it all together in a way that somehow sounds beautiful. Regina Spektor, Julia Easterlin and Alice Pheobe Lou have been big influences in that playful approach to songwriting. And then of course, due credit goes to the African American folk who coined the iconic jazz/blues/soul flavour that I tie all these sounds together with. Chuck Berry and John Lee Hooker were frequently heard voices in my family home as I was growing up.
Coming from NZ, the big female names in looping are Kimbra and A Girl Named Mo, I really admire these musicians.
The difference between me and most other loop artists is that I only use my breath and my voice and my body- no other instruments when I perform live. I love how strong voice can be when it’s not competing for recognition amidst other amplified noises. I feel like there’s a metaphor for intersectional feminism in there!

What was it like to film the music video for Paint Me A Picture?

Unreal. There was a moment during shooting day when I was like “wow. All these people are here because of something I created.” That was a pivotal moment for me.
It was the longest that I had ever spent doing body burns and eating fire in one go. Usually a live performance is only a few minutes, but because we took so many takes I was burning fuel for like an hour. I have a health and safety routine that I use to ensure I’m well during and after eating fire, but I definitely left the shoot with a few minor skin burns that day, just because of the repeated exposure to flame.

Do you think it’s important for there to be diversity in the music world?

I’m gonna take it a step further and say it is actually the responsibility of the music industry to accurately illustrate the diversity of our nations. Media and entertainment have a huuuuuuuge amount of power when it comes to influencing culture. As far as I can see, that power has been grossly abused by many people and marginalised folk continue to be marginalised by the lack of accurate representation. I love ASD that Australian radio has put in quotas to ensure representation of non-male musicians. It’s a step in the right direction. NZ could learn from this. I’m stoked to see that there’s more of us lgbtqia+ folk openly taking centre stage, but we’ve still got a long way to go in achieving that broad intersectional representation of gender, ethnicity, age and ability.
Even though we have many artists promoting sexual liberation in media, I still see a severe lack of relationship diversity being promoted. The conversations still revolve entirely around being staunchly independent or dangerously codependent. In a country that is crippled with both loneliness and domestic violence, I’m certain that neither of these are beneficial relationship models for us to be striving for, but our music industry continues to present these versions of toxic monogamy as the only options.
I’m here to advocate for consensual non-monogamy, polyamory, and conscious monogamy as equally valid ways of fostering community and raising families.
Shout outs to all the people working hard behind the scenes to advocate for accurate representation in media.

What’s it like juggling music and being a parent?

My kids LOVE that this is what I do. It’s not an obscure adult concept, it’s very accessible and relatable to them. They love to see me perform, and my youngest does their best to get on stage with me when they can! But obviously, being the primary caregiver of 3 kids means that the time I have to put into live performance is very limited. That, combined with covid, is why I’ve pushed my online presence so heavily in the lead-up to this release: I can’t be constantly touring like most other professional musicians. So far it seems to have worked, I’ve achieved a decent following in a short space of time. I plan on taking my kids with me to my summer festival gigs, we’re all really excited about that!

What would you say is your spirit animal?

I don’t identify with that term, but I’m kinda like a greyhound. I go really really fast and hyperfocus all of my energy into a thing that’s really important to me right this moment and then I’m exhausted and I lie around contemplating existence for the rest of the day coz my brain is still processing a million things but also sleep is nice.
I’m also like a bunny. I’m cute and fluffy (#noshavenoshame) and I like pats but also loud unexpected noises make my heart beat too fast and might cause me to faint. Plus, sex is cool. I hear bunnies do that a lot.

Not including dogs or cats, what would be your pet of choice?

All I can think of right now is furries and O/p relationships so that’s all I’m gonna say about that...

Can we expect any more music from you this year?

Hells yes! Very soon! I’ve got another single to release and an EP. It’s all about my adventures in polyamory and community living solutions that go beyond the nuclear family home. Add me on all your socials and follow me on Spotify and YouTube to be notified of when I drop my next love bomb on the interwebs.

EJ is a creative visionary, they inspire passion and dedication, it is more than apparent in their work how much they care for music and the passion behind what EJ sings about. We can’t wait for EJ’s future releases, we will absolutely be signing up.

Check out EJ’s song below or head to our I’m So Indie You 🌞 playlist to hear more songs like it.

By Samuel Seedsman.