Written By James Barry
Julia Kirk is the type of lustrous New Jersey gem any lucky music lover can chance upon at Happy Mondays. As a regular acoustic performer at bars and restaurants across the state, she has covered everyone’s favorite song. Recently at The Wonder Bar, she broke out her electric guitar and took the stage with her band to play some songs of her own. And the luckiest folks in Asbury were those who caught her ethereal vocals floating through the air, out the Wonder Bar doors and into the night sky like loose balloons.
Kirk’s lyrics capture helplessness, anxiety, the mute frustrations of complacency, and the never-ending quest for mindfulness. And her soothing voice cradles the audience, rocking them into a serene state of openness. Her singing is the spoonful of sugar, and the lyrics are the medicine.
An ethos of openness to experience doesn’t just fuel Kirk’s music, it guides her life. Since she studied abroad in Australia early in college, she has been consumed by wanderlust. Backpacking throughout Asia, Europe, and South America, she has traversed all kinds of landscapes and absorbed all kinds of cultures. It’s no wonder she plays all kinds of music.
The audience can hear her cover R&B, soul, classic rock, and grunge all in one set. And no matter what she plays, she’ll sound like Julia Kirk. She makes each song her own. Years of traveling the world solo have fortified her character and shaped her unmistakable sound.
She has lived on her own for years in a country where they don’t speak her language, yet she still feels nervous before every band gig in New Jersey. “Uncomfortable in a good way” is a phrase she loves to say, and a feeling she loves to seek. No one in the Wonder Bar would have guessed she was uncomfortable as she mesmerized them with her mellow, jazzy tunes.
“You will never understand me,” Kirk sings at the start of her song, “Alter-Ego.” I took that line as a challenge as I met her for a chat after her dulcet set.
What have you been listening to lately?
Oh, a whole mix of sounds … lately a lot of Rosalía. And the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I like their new stuff. I’ve been listening to their newer albums. And Björk. And some ambient stuff, too, like Brian Eno’s album Music For Airports.
When you’re listening to new music, what separates a song you’ll cover from one you like?
With the covers, when I’m playing in a bar or somewhere social I need to play songs that people know. So I pick ones that are recognizable, but I try to do my own versions of them. I’m not the type of musician who can sound exactly like the record…So I try to interpret it in my own way to where halfway through the song people think I know this song, what is it? Oh yea! It’s Nirvana. I like seeing people’s reactions in that way.
But if I’m doing a gig with the band, I want to pick something recognizable but out of left field. So, I pick different covers with them because it’s more of a listening room than background noise.
And when you’re picking covers to play with the band, do you try to select ones that fit with your original songs thematically or sonically?
I try to do the opposite and pick songs that stand out. I feel like a lot of my original music is mellow, so I see the covers as an opportunity to be more upbeat. I haven’t written a song like that yet, so the covers are like practice for whenever I decide to write a song that’s more rock or punk.
Even if there are sonic differences, I felt like there was a theme of mental health running through the set. From your cover of “Flagpole Sitta” to your original songs “Spark” and “Alter-Ego,” psychiatry and anxiety seemed like through lines.
I think in this day and age, mental health is something that we all struggle with. So it’s definitely a theme in my writing. And I gravitate toward things that are mental health related because it’s fascinating what our brains do; how they can control us, and how we can control our brains…It’s not something I’ve really thought about, but I guess I am drawn to the mind and all its mysteries.
During your set, you said “Alter-Ego” was inspired by a squirrel you watched through the window one day. What does your songwriting process look like? Is it spontaneous? Or is it more methodical?
I try to sit at least once a week and just write, and every time I do it, nothing worth keeping comes out of it. Everything I’ve kept has been written in a whirlwind of inspiration. And it’s always a quick process…sometimes when I’m finished, I don’t even remember it. I think the longest it’s taken me to write a song I’ve kept in the repertoire is 15 minutes. I’ll go back and edit it afterward, but the initial process is fast and mindless. It’s almost like I’m not even participating in it.
Do you start with a line that comes to mind? Or do you just ponder the image that inspired you?
It’s usually a feeling. If I go through the day and I feel happy or upset or anxious, at the end of it I can sit with the guitar and purge my emotions. It’s cathartic. Writing is a beautiful way to capture where you’re at, mentally and emotionally.
I was perusing your website and it says there you’re a backpacker and a wanderer. Can you tell me more about that?
I love to travel, and I don’t like suitcases. I just take a backpack and I pack everything I need: some clothes, toothpaste, toothbrush … I like to go to places where English isn’t the main language, so it’s uncomfortable in a good way. I’ve been to South America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand…Man, the world is a big, beautiful place. You’ve gotta go out and see it. So I try to take at least a month out of the year to actively remove myself from this place and see something different.
When did you start?
In college. I studied abroad, and just never went back to school. My parents were thrilled about that…I studied in Australia and started working there, and I wasn’t ready to go home. So I didn’t go home and stayed there for about two-and-a-half years. Then I moved to Thailand and taught English there and backpacked around Asia for a little bit…Then I finally came home and started saving up money to do it again.
How has it changed your perspective?
It’s changed everything. It’s made me more confident in myself. I was super insecure and shy, but when you’re traveling alone you really can’t be. You really need to rely on yourself to get to where you need to go, to ask someone if they speak English or try to practice the language. You really need to become more secure to do it alone. And you need to have your wits about you, because there are people who can tell you’re a tourist.
Do you think the security you’ve found through travel helps you on stage?
For sure. I don’t think I’d ever have the confidence to do music if it weren’t for all the solo traveling. It brought something out of me I didn’t think was there and strengthened it to where I’m now unrecognizable. I try to think back to who I was in high school and early in college before I started traveling…I was so timid. Man, I couldn’t do anything. It was hard to make friends. I was really, really shy. All the way through my childhood. And I can confidently say I’m not that way anymore.
Have you ever found people to play with in your travels?
Yea there have been some fun impromptu jam sessions. Some beautiful moments. But mostly it’s when I’m in a hotel by myself at night … I’ve had a lot of new experiences. Let me sit with the guitar and flush out what’s been going on. A lot of the time it’s a solitary thing for me.
I see a correlation between your openness to new cultures and your willingness to play across all genres.
I feel like the only way you can get better as an artist, and even as a person, is to be open minded to different experiences, different music. I feel like when people are closed and isolated in their own world or their own genre … well, first of all, it’s so boring. But how are you going to grow? There’s no opportunity for growth if you keep yourself away from new experiences.
Have you traveled to a place you’d like to live permanently?
I’ve had the experience of living in different places, but I still find myself wanting to stay in Jersey. It’s weird, I wanted so badly when I was 18 to move away from Jersey, get away from the whole Tri-State area. And now that I’m almost 30 and have a career in a sense, I want to stay here. I’ve grown to love this place I call home. I’m not ashamed to be from New Jersey. It’s such a fantastic place. Especially Asbury Park. Asbury is so enchanting, such a great hub for music and the arts.
How about the rest of 2023? What are you excited about?
I’ve got a couple more band gigs lined up, which is cool, because a lot of the time I play solo. It’s like five nights a week, playing at a bar, somewhere people are eating dinner, and I’m in the corner just playing background music. And I like that, because at the end of the day, I’m getting paid to practice. But it’s really nice to do band gigs because people are listening, and that makes me nervous, in a good way. And coming up I’m going to start recording. Because I have basically nothing recorded, and I need to get in that game…I want to do it just for me. To get it done and say I’ve done it. I’m hoping to release an album by the end of the year. But most likely it’ll be out early next year.
