Julia Marie is recording her debut album, and I had the opportunity to catch up with a quick interview. She is a soulful singer and musician with a powerful voice, and an early listen to some of her tracks revealed a rich sound that is easy on the ears.

You can connect with Julia, listen to her music and find her various social media channels via DigiRAMP:
https://digiramp.com/users/julia-marie/cms_pages/5

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Nick: You are big into fashion. Your timeline and tweets are full of iconic designers and imagery. What inspires you about fashion?

Julia: I actually don’t really conceive of myself as being into fashion but I definitely like to have some fun with it. Everyone has to wake up in the morning and throw on some clothes and we’re all sending some kind of message through what we choose to wear. I am fueled by creativity and expression, so the way I dress is just another outlet for that, like music or art. I guess what really draws me to fashion is the ability to transform myself and the way I feel on a daily basis through how I dress. My wardrobe primarily consists of vintage pieces; I like that the clothes I wear have had a life of their own before they came into my hands. There’s something special, a little extra soul, to vintage clothes.

N: What got you started with music?

J: In a way I feel that music is something that’s always been with me—I’ve been magnetized to the arts for as long as I can remember. I think that children are natural creative geniuses and I was very lucky to attend an elementary school that offered arts classes regularly which got me pretty interested in taking up an instrument at an early age. At the age of 7 I started studying classical guitar. By 10 I also took up piano and at 15 I began studying sitar and North Indian classical music. For my last birthday I acquired a beast electric guitar, which is going to be a major challenge to me. You could say my natural interest and passion quickly became an obsession and I’m pretty much rampantly expanding to collect and learn new instruments and styles of music.

N: You have a gorgeous voice. Have you taken vocal lessons?

J: I have actually never studied voice and I’m kind of happy that I haven’t. Most Indian instruments are actually striving to emulate the human voice, so I’ve gained insight about singing and musicality through my instrumental studies. This wasn’t an intentional strategy but it has allowed me to develop as a singer without losing the natural qualities of my voice, which I think make it special. I am in awe of the voice as an instrument; the vocal chords are unique in each body as are the acoustics of each body so the voice is an incredibly unique, organic and wonderful instrument. That is why I strive to refine but maintain the organic qualities of my voice.

N: How did you meet up with Peter Rafelson? What was it like working with him?

J: We met on digiramp and shared our music. As we became friends Peter took an interest in getting involved in developing my project. The first time we met we hit it off. We wrote and recorded “Just A Moment” in our first session, which is still one of our favorite songs we’ve done so far together. I had never really taken part in that kind of collaboration before; collaboration is as much about listening as contributing. There’s a magic that can happen during the creative process when two people have that sympatico.

N: Your debut album releases later this year. Can you say when?

J: The album is a work in process and a labor of love. We’re really happy with what we’ve created so far so we’ve started prereleasing some of the songs on digiramp. When everybody agrees that there’s a finished album we’ll release it—most likely late in 2015.

N: Do you have plans to tour?

J: Currently I’m booking a number of gigs locally. We’re looking for the right opportunity to go on a festival tour by next summer.

N: What’s your favorite song from the 1960s or 1970s?

J: This is my favorite era of music so it’s totally impossible for me to pick one favorite but Otis Redding’s “I’ve Got Dreams to Remember” is somewhere up there.

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You can connect with Julia, listen to her music and find her various social media channels via DigiRAMP:
https://digiramp.com/users/julia-marie/cms_pages/5