Melbourne based singer-songwriter Ali Barter releases her highly awaited debut full-length album.
Ali Barter and her guitar have been kicking around Melbourne's music scene for a few years, collecting up rave reviews and ‘one to watch’ labels like playing cards. Perhaps fittingly for a bold, brash, ball-tearing feminist rocket, it took a song called ‘Girlie Bits’ – a song about how women are treated in the music industry, relationships and life in general – for her to burst into the heart of Australia's music scene.
Comparisons to the likes of Hole and Garbage are easy to make, but Barter's tunes veer more to a sweet popinfused dollop of grunge. She's cited Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins as a big influence, not hard to spot in the soft verse and loud chorus combination in latest single ‘Cigarette’. Not one to sugar-coat reality and tip-toe around feelings, “Cigarette” grasps romantic invalidation with graceful blatancy. Barter’s choir-trained vocals are made even sweeter against rattling, 90’s punk-rock guitars in the crashing chorus
Taking it’s name from a Vikram Seth’s novel, A Suitable Boy, this album also looks at the power of selfacceptance and the confidence to own your own thoughts. Throughout the writing process, Barter collaborated with a number of songwriters including Jonathan Boulet, Thom Macken and Adalita.