Julia Sound shares their brand new single, “I Don’t Wanna Change”
Julia Sound is a collective led by Lin Gardiner, a British-Canadian BC-based artist, composer, musician, and producer. Julia Sound released its debut album Heal, in the summer of 2021 to critical acclaim. They are set to release a second full-length offering, Nothing Above the Blue Sky, in May of 2023, via Boomsmack Records.
Nothing Above The Blue Sky is a collection of evocative, ethereal, vocal-led electronica with ten new songs, including features by Kinnie Starr, Edzi’u, and Larissa Tandy, amongst others. Different singers feature on each track, all pulled together by Gardiner. The lyrical component of the songs leans into subjects perhaps shied away from in more commercial projects – stories of loss, war, mental health, and hope.
The collective has unveiled the new single, “I Don’t Wanna Change,” from their upcoming album, featuring Australian alt-folk singer Larissa Tandy.
Listen to “I Don’t Wanna Change” below and learn more about Julia Sound via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Lin Gardiner, a record producer, songwriter, composer, and mix engineer. I’m British-Canadian and live on the Sunshine Coast of BC, where I own and operate a recording studio called The Sound Garden Retreat. I also release music under the artist Julia Sound, a collaborative vocal-led electronic music project, bringing in a variety of vocalists for the songs.
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
“I Don’t Wanna Change” is the first single from my upcoming album, which drops in May. This single features vocals from Australian-Canadian Larissa Tandy. Larissa normally writes and records in the alt-Americana genre, and I’ve been following their releases over the last couple of years since meeting at a workshop I was hosting in 2019. I was really drawn to Larissa’s lyrics and emotional quality in their music and knew that one day I’d love Larissa on a Julia Sound song. I sent Larissa the beat and was stoked that they were up for this collaboration – we’re thrilled with how this turned out. The track is deliberately sparse and mellow, leaving room for the beautiful vocals to really draw the listener in. Everyone will take what they will from the lyrics, but the song’s essence is a call to be who you are and don’t feel pressured to change for anyone – you are good enough.
Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?
The project’s name, Julia Sound, is from a name scientists gave to a mysterious underwater sound discovered in the 90s. The theory is it’s the sound of icebergs moving together on the ocean floor. I love that analogy and think it sums up the music for this project pretty well – overall, the content is darker and deeper than more commercial tracks. I’m inspired by a lot of British bands, including Massive Attack, Leftfield, Nitin Sawney, and Chase & Status. These bands bring in different vocalists to feature on different songs, which I’ve adopted for this project, both on 2021’s debut ‘Heal’ and the upcoming album. I’ve been mad about synths since I was a kid, so all the tracks are centered around synths, both analogue, and plugins. Genre-wise, some have described the music as trip hop or chillwave, which I’m OK with. Lyrically, I like to dig into deeper subjects with this project, so for this album, the songs deal with things like the climate emergency, mental health, war, and loss, but there are also messages of hope in there too.
Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?
This has been a purely studio and video project, but I plan to work on a live show once the album is out. I’m hoping to play at some festivals in the summer. I’ll post any dates on the socials!
What’s your goal for 2023?
2022 was all about completing this record, and 2023 is all about getting it out there, with all that goes along with that. There will be three singles with videos in total, as well as a plan for an additional video from one of the album tracks when the album drops. I’d love this music to reach as many people who are into this genre as possible, and I am working with Nice Marmot PR on helping that come to fruition.
For me, the process of creating music is so enjoyable, particularly with the collaborative nature of this project. Julia Sound is morphing into a collective of songwriters, vocalists, and the support team – session musicians, photographers, video artists, cover artists, and graphic designers. Another goal is for these collaborators to get kudos in their respective fields – it’s cool to think that some of these tracks might help them in their careers, as with some songs from the debut album. Getting the content released is my main goal, but the icing on the cake is when blogs, playlists, and radio pick up on the songs – it’s always nice to know your music is being appreciated somewhere. As well as working towards live shows later in the year, as mentioned, I also plan to try to get some of the tracks into film and tv and use the project as a springboard to hopefully compose more for visual media too.