In this interview feature, we get to know the most radicalist up & coming stars on the planet.   

This time we speak to London singer-songwriter Starling, a developing alt-pop sensation whose upcoming second EP, The Body, is a celebration of the outsider.

Last year, Starling released a piano-led, multi-textured debut EP, titled The Heart, via Communion Records. While that first release featured themes of “the Other” as heard in stand-out single ‘Misfit’, a song which has since garnered 43.9k listens on SoundCloud and another 43.2k plays over on Spotify, Starling now views those songs as “naïve and sweet.” That’s by no means a criticism, as the minimalist, under-developed nature of this debut work meant that she had scope to build, to create, to explore new facets of her artistry.

That journey of discovery led the British artist to her second EP, The Body: a collection of four tracks that deal in the disparity between superficial beauty and inner darkness. It’s a potent subject that Starling has already expressed through an online photo collection called Depression in Utopia. When it comes to these new songs in particular they’re “unapologetic” and come directly from Starling’s own life experiences, whether it’s the post-break-up exhaustion in ‘No Rest For The Wicked’,  the defiant attitude of brand new reveal ‘Large It’ or myriad realisations sparked by New York City nights you’ll hear cascading through the other two yet-to-be-released tunes. Although The Body EP stemmed from personal events, Starling goes on to explain that “I'm inspired by really strong women, but also people who are bruised. I really love that in music and I hope I can bring that – there's nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to how damaged we are. It's what unites us. I like to talk about emotion because that's the real thing we all have in common. How we can be what we choose to be not what happened to us."  

What’s great about Starling’s music is the complexity of her lyrics, visuals, and sound, which always strays to the left of pop. Look to the super new ‘Large It’ video, “a song about getting wrecked and not giving a shit,” mirrored in images of a scrap yard and Starling’s performance drenched in Tarantino red. It’s a portrayal of human nature, not of the good girl, the angel of the house, the proper way to behave; this is honesty, whether you like it or not.

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TMR: Hey Starling! What have you been up to lately?

Starling: Press stuff for my EP in the UK and writing my debut album in New York. I am between two cities.

TMR: As with many contemporary singer-songwriters, you started out with covers. What was your favourite cover song to perform and why?

Starling: ‘Far Away’ by Ingrid Michaelson, it's such a story and a sweet melody.

TMR: It’s noted that you covered the works of Joni Mitchell and Bill Withers, but who else do you consider to be a major influence, particularly on your current style?

Starling: I covered them when I started out, but Massive Attack and Zero 7 were always my main influence in terms of sound and I was lucky that they became the producers of my first EP The Heart. This second EP, The Body, is a sound more inspired by synths and hard drums. I love Blondie and bands like the Black Keys and LCD Soundsystem, so I put flavours of that sonic in this.

TMR: When did you begin to write your own material? How does that early work differ from your songs now?

Starling: I started in 2015 and it was very much what you hear on The Heart that were my first ever songs. This next EP is so different in mood because I have changed - moving from sadness into strength. I feel like this EP reflects my new ability to stand back up, despite it all, and to look to the future not just the past.



TMR: Your lyrics seem to possess both emotive realism and caricaturistic surrealism, for example in ‘Misfit’ with the potentially unnerving line, “Dress me up again, piece of Plasticine. What’s the job? I don’t know, I just daydream.” Would you care to explain the meaning behind that?

Starling: Exactly! I love that you say that, because David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino are such an influence. I love movies and crazy ones, ones that are not quite "normal". That lyric is about my constant feeling as a women to conform to a certain look, the social media pressure, the cultural obsession with being perfect and pretty and thin, it's just crap and sometimes I used to just numb out rather than now where I realise looking good has its place but it's not as relevant as being authentic. We should nurture talent and invention, not just how many likes we have for our selfie.

TMR: Where else do you find the inspiration for these unusual and suggestive lyrics?

Starling: From movies and poems I read, but also just from my mind. I write my dreams down, I have a diary and some of that stuff is pretty whack.

TMR: A lot of your songs have a really strong rhythm, whether that’s the chunky drums in ‘Wild Heart’, the chill-pop beats in ‘Craving’ or the grooving bass throughout ‘No Rest For The Wicked’. Is this a purposeful choice, a happy accident or an innate attraction to powerful rhythms?

Starling: Love rhythm. Love dancing in my bedroom. The drums are conscious. I'm just always trying to find the best textures, it's a constant trial and error thing.



TMR: Picking up on the mention of ‘No Rest For The Wicked’, it’s quite different from The Heart EP. Where did this song come from?

Starling: I wrote it the morning after my breakup and walked into session with the producer Sterling Fox jokingly saying “wow, there really is no rest for the wicked,” and he was like, “yeah, let's write about that.” It spiralled from there. Eminem wanted it for his album, but then it didn't go and I released it as it's the perfect link from ‘Misfit’ to continue the theme of struggle and darkness, but a step up. I'm not tired of being a misfit now, I'm starting to own it.

TMR: The music video for ‘No Rest For The Wicked’ is dark, urban and incredibly stylish. How do these visuals relate to the track?

Starling: I live in London it was shot in London. I love taking baths. I lived in that estate. I really do wear pink two piece suits, so it's really just a visual video to begin the EP with. Lonely in the cafe eating, lovely in the bath. There's no rest in a city this size.

TMR: The last shot cuts out to a teasing “to be continued” - any hint of what we can expect next?

Starling: We have made a video for every song. Four videos over four months that all link. ‘Large It’ was out on Friday [March 3rd] and it’s a cut loose kind of fun feeling. Sometimes a mad night is the best remedy.



‘Large It’ and ‘No Rest For The Wicked’ are out now with The Body EP coming soon.

-Hannah Thacker