| Flower power is making music
 Tara
Burke is a musician with a difference — employing voice, guitar,
organ, dulcimer, accordion, Casio organ and much more to create her unique
psychedelic sound. The young singer chats with TARA McWEENY about her
Irish roots and her passion for the job.
With such a variety of music available it is rare to find something truly
original. Something that it is like nothing you have ever heard before.
But Fursaxa AkA Tara Burke easily accomplishes this with her unique sound.
Her music has been called many things by fans and critics trying to pinpoint
her sound from minimalist psychedelic to acid folk.
For Burke herself, she sees Fursaxa as more of the former and less of
the latter.
“I don’t consider my music folk at all,” she explains.
“I use lots of traditional folk instruments, which I guess is why
people label my music folk, but I am not using these instruments in any
traditional sort of sense.
“I think it would be more appropriate to call what I do experimental.”
Having just completed a tour of Britain and Europe promoting her new album
Lepidoptera, Fursaxa is signed to the alternative ATP record label. Lepidoptera
is an album that grows with each listen. At first it can be alienating,
however with more listens the layered and technical side of the music
starts to consume.
Burke puts her voice and instruments through a box recorder and what comes
out the other side is a spiritualistically tribal sound, almost unconsciously
updated for the 21st century.
“I feel that I never really do anything deliberately — but
for me music is a very spiritual process, so I hope I convey that through
my music,” says Burke.
Based in Philadelphia in America Burke is of German and Irish abstraction.
And she feels a natural affinity with Ireland — not just literally
as she enjoys visiting her relatives in Dublin, but also on a more subconscious
level.
“I definitely feel I have more of a connection to my Irish roots
than my German roots,” she says. “I have a song called Dona
Plumerae. Although not an Irish name, it is about a woman singing on the
shores of Bray-— where most of my roots can be traced.
“So I guess my Irish background often seeps in here and there. And
I also have a fondness for Guinness.”
Influenced heavily by nature Burke is an avid gardener and names a lot
of her songs after plants. With her other passion, art, it is clear that
she approaches her music in the same way — delicately crafting and
layering her sound.
“I have never painted before but I imagine if I did I would paint
on a surface adding layers and taking them away.
“I would keep doing this until I had a final visual image that I
thought looked good. I guess what I am saying is that my approach to making
music is an artistic or visual approach of sorts.
“Sometimes I will record a few tracks of music, and it will take
me a year or more to figure out what else I should add to or take away
from it in order for it to sound the way I envision.”
Avoiding rules is something that also helps her music sound fresh.
“I take a child-like approach in that I am not concerned about rules
or how music is supposed to sound.
“Although I’ve had a few piano and guitar lessons many years
ago, I generally consider myself a self taught musician.”
Fursaxa is not something that you are likely to see in the mainstream
— however Burke’s music continues to slowly impress those
looking for a unique music fix. With Irish, German and American roots
combined the music was always going to be interesting.
Lepidoptera by Fursaxa is out on ATP recordings.
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