At the end of 2020, we had the opportunity to chat with Julia Wallace, a sad-song writing, trumpet playing, musical all-rounder hailing from Perth, WA. Julia has squashed an incredible plethora of musical experience into her 20-years, dabbling in everything from jazz big bands, choirs and indie groups, even finding herself studying at WAAPA for a period of time. She emerged onto the scene in 2020 with her debut single ‘Warm Light’, a delicate piano ballad that showcases her poignant lyric writing and deeply diverse musicality.
She recently played her first solo gig at Melbourne’s Small Time bar, releasing a striking new single entitled ‘Place In Mind’. With meditative sparsity and rich piano backing that so perfectly correlates with her first release, there is no doubt the ambience at this gig will be nothing short of ethereal. On the cusp of an exciting emergence into the Aus music scene, we took the opportunity to ask Julia about her experience as a WA grown artist.
Q: What has been your experience starting a solo project/releasing music in 2020?
Julia: Despite this year messing with all our plans, recording and releasing this project was quite serendipitous. I’ve been sitting on these songs for a while waiting for the right time, and I guess I must have thought a pandemic meant the right time! The constraints on travelling and changing pace of everything this year actually made the recording process - tracking everything at home myself - really chilled without time pressure. Release wise, I have been terribly lucky to make contact with the right people at the right time!
Q: What is the best thing about being an artist living and working in WA?
Julia: I bloody love being a musician in WA. Everyone is pretty much one degree of friend-separation from everyone else in Perth and the music scene is so intertwined, crossing genres and players. I’m in a bunch of other bands, so are most people in the scene, and it’s so fun playing a heap of different shows.
Q: What is the worst thing about being an artist living and working in WA?
Julia: Always wondering if the grass is greener on the East Coast, but not wanting to take the plunge and move over because who wouldn’t miss WA.
Q: If you could play a show at a venue anywhere in WA where would it be, and which WA based artists would you love to perform/collab with?
Julia: Ok thinking big here...The Quarry Amphitheatre. It’s a gorgeous outdoor venue set in a limestone hill surrounded by huge gum trees. I meeeean… magic.
I’d love to collab on a song with Nika Mo - such a beautiful writer.
Q: What advice would you give other emerging WA artists regarding getting your music recognised/working with agencies especially over on the East Coast?
Julia: Don’t be afraid to do some research and send some emails! It might just turn out!
Q: Who are some up & coming WA artists that we should all check out?
Julia: Smol Fish have their debut song coming out mid-December (2020), I’m so pumped for it. My favourite Perth band is Nika Mo (most stunning EP released last year, please listen to it in full). You probably all know Jack Davies and the Bush Chooks, I just keep going back to listen to their new EP, it’s so beautiful.