Julia Darling - Figure 8 & Julia Darling & Everything That Has Happened Since Then & The Long White ((1999-2017)

Singer, songwriter began her singing career as a street performer in Melbourne, Australia, she now resides in New York.

New Zealand's Julia Darling began her artistic career as a dancer in Melbourne, Australia, but soon moved on to poetry as her creative outlet, which progressed into songwriting. Borrowing money from a roommate for an acoustic guitar, Darling became a street musician, and was noticed by a passing record company executive. This led to Darling finding a manager and releasing an EP of her songs, which resulted in a record deal from Wind-Up Records. 1999's Figure 8 marked Darling's full-length debut and her first release for the label.

Julia Darling is another copycat of the Lilith Fair scene. What could have been an original reshaping of a well-worn sound is just another set of anonymous footprints on the beach. The opening cut, "Overloading God" sends overdubbed shout-outs to angels and spirits on top of the predictable folk-rock accompaniment of cellos and acoustic guitars. Songs like "Soak Me" and "My Inanimate Friend" deliver every cliché in the bag, sometimes two or three times in the course of a single tune. It's pleasantly done, and anyone who is already of a fan of Sarah McLaughlin, Paula Cole, or Jewel may enjoy this heaping helping of More Of The Same. Everyone else will shrug it off. --Jason Josephes

Her follow-up release is a continuation of honest-yet-not-sappy songwriting. Put her in the studio with two talented producers and some acclaimed musician friends and you get a strong rock/pop album of perfectly produced tracks that allow her voice and words to be heard just as they should be.

Born in New Zealand, Julia hired her first manager while playing guitar on the streets of Melbourne, Australia. McDonald's had just fired her, and she was skipping dance class at the time. But she enjoyed singing for dollar bills and wanted to make a career of it.

Julia sent a tape to BMG publishing. They signed her up. She moved to L.A. and made her first album for BMG and Wind-Up Records. Producer Tony Berg introduced her to a handful of the finest West Coast players, Patrick Warren (Fiona Apple), Jon Brion (Rufus Wainwright, Elliot Smith), drummer Butch from the 'Eels' and Tony Bergs neighbor, T-Bone Burnett would randomly drop in on sessions and lay down a marxaphone solo. In overwhelming company she remembers looking at the cover of a Rolling Stones concert booklet and asking all the guys who the fifth 'Beatle' was. Bravo!

All naivety aside, Figure 8 was a mature and ambitious debut. If you liked the album, you loved it after a few listens. The production was dense and the songs were complex. Writers, musicians, producers all got behind Figure 8 but the record got lost in the commercial climate.

Heavily influenced by Radiohead, Granddaddy, Beck, and other original artists, she started writing songs she wanted to listen to and scrapped the ones she didn't.The result is her self-titled upcoming release, independently produced by Ken Rich and Andrew Sherman and funded by friends and fans. "The album was a group effort, my friends played on it, produced and supported the process, we all had creative freedom and we were having fun, sharing ideas and drinking lots of Corona".

Julia Darling's latest album, 'Everything That Has Happened Since Then' was recorded in Brooklyn, NY with Ken Rich and Andrew Sherman. An A-list of dobro players, harmonica players, whistlers, marxophonists and xylophonists dropped in to the party too - including Tracy Bonham singing back-up and playing the violin. Julia's songs were written over a 3 year period - but don't expect an array of emotions here; she sticks to the underlying honesty (brutality) of personal relationships and behavior that have endeared fans to her for over a decade.

This record was made on a whim, in a desperate attempt to be around people I loved and admired for many, many years before leaving the US for NZ for a bit of an adventure with my partner Chris, and our two toddlers. I decided to record at Grand Street Recording (www.grandstreetrecording.com) with Ken Rich and Andrew Sherman, Jon Darling, Ethan Eubanks, and Teddy Goldstein. Teddy’s song, “Fully,” and Jon’s song, “Hard to leave you,” gave me inspiration for the record, as I had admired these songs passionately from afar for many years. I felt that I could reinvent some of my older writing around them. Albeit short, I won’t forget the feeling of being creative with my favorite people on earth for what might be the last time.