Behind the “baroque pop” of Amelia Coburn

By Meg Richards 

 U.K born artist Amelia Coburn will play her first gig in the U.S. next week at Austin’s annual SXSW festival.

Calling her project “art without artifice,” Amelia Coburn takes inspiration from the greats of songwriting history, whose diaristic style has influenced generations of artists. To Coburn, among these giants are Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and Tom Waits. Their storytelling ranges from “gruff” and “cabaret,” to “noir” and “romantic.” These influences are more than apparent in her latest work, Between the Moon and the Milkman.

“I like telling a lot of stories, either inspired by the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met on my travels, [or] the strange dreams I’ve had. So when I recorded my debut album, that was a kind of collection of folk storytellings Inspired by myths and dreams and that kind of thing,” Coburn said. “But then recently, it’s taken a lot more inspiration from literature and and and film, and my sound is starting to change…At the heart of it, I guess I’m a singer that tells stories.”

This juxtaposition peeks through her work throughout. It’s apparent in her earlier work, which she says is just her and her ukelele. Now, her songs have taken on a new tone as she gets older.

“As life gets more serious, I guess so do the songs,” she said.

Whether serious or silly, there’s a place for all of it in her performances. She values the sort of authenticity that her Northeastern accent brings—hailing from Middlesbrough, United Kingdom, but also creates space for theatrics and expression on stage.

“I think when I play live, I’m always myself. You know, a lot of people do have personas,” she said. “I suppose I have one to an extent, but at the same time, like in between the songs that I play, that can be sometimes, you know, quite ethereal or quite mysterious…it’ll just be me and my Northeast British accent.”

Vocally, she channels an “expressive” sound, which to her, means anything from Kate Bush to Frank Sinatra.

“It’s just sort of sinister, but the storytelling is there,” she said.

The genre of her music, poetic and juxtaposed, is a direct product of her upbringing in Middlesbrough. The predominantly working class town, industrialized and honest, is surrounded by vast, exquisite natural scenery in either direction, influencing the artist’s style

“You’ve got this industrial town, but then 10 minutes away, you’ve got the seaside; you’re right next to the beach. If you go 10 minutes the other way, you’re in the hills and you’re in the countryside, and there are the most amazing walks. I think that’s what I love about it.”

Needless to say, Austin, Texas, home to SXSW, will be a drastic change. She calls the festival “daunting,” but is nevertheless ecstatic.

“I think it’s such a huge event and festival and conference, like it’s, whenever you tell people in the UK I’m going South by Southwest, they’re like ‘whoa,’ because it’s seen as one of the biggest—if not, the biggest conference you can go to—especially as a musician from the UK,” she said.

While she’s never been to Texas, she did live in Mexico briefly, while studying language in university. The musician doubles as a polyglot speaking Spanish, French, Russian, and Serbian. Always enamored by new cultures and environments, she’s “excited to soak in the whole atmosphere.”

It’ll be Coburn’s first gig across the pond, and while she’ll be playing two shows—March 13th at 8 p.m. CDT, and 9 p.m. on March 14th—she’s also looking forward to meeting, and potentially collaborating with other musicians.

“I love going to gigs for fun, so it’ll be nice when I’m not working to actually enjoy some music and other bits,” she said. “I just recently came back from a songwriting retreat with other musicians, and I’m hoping to maybe go back and write with them more, because I made some really cool connections. And I’ve never really collaborated in that form before, but it was really, really useful to share ideas.”

After the festival, Coburn is planning to perform at shows across the UK all summer, and begin writing for her next album, which she’ll be recording in September.