Iron Blossom Chronicles: Julia Pratt

PHOTOS BY LINDSEY DADOURIAN

As a Richmonder, I’m a bit separated from the rest of the Pleaser crew. Not many music festivals make their way to my little city, and it’s pretty rare when an artist I really love graces the River City, too. So when I was given the opportunity to not only do press for the Iron Blossom Music Festival but also talk to some amazing artists, I jumped at the chance!

Julia Pratt is such an inspiration to me. Her lyricism and power on stage is so impactful and she’s an artist that really makes me love what I do. So, getting to talk with her on Day One of the festival was an amazing kick off. 

Pleaser: So I guess right off the bat are there any artists that you're excited to see or that you've seen today? 

Julia: I'm a big fan of Victoria Canal and I just met her! Her set was amazing and she’s also really cool. So I was really excited about that. I mean honestly everyone on this lineup is so sick, but I'm also obviously super excited to see Mt. Joy later because I love them.

Pleaser: Do you have a go to song that you perform live? 

Julia: Of my own? I think I always do my song “Little Bug” which did terribly in the charts, like I was so sad the day It came out because it got like no coverage, but it's one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written So I always make sure to play it. 

Pleaser: What goes into writing your songs?

Julia: I mean honestly, a lot of time sitting and overthinking is the main part. Honestly, yeah, just like a lot of self reflection. I write about myself a lot and I often try to be over poetic about how I talk about my feelings. So I'm trying to get better at that. But typically i'm just thinking.

Pleaser: There's nothing wrong with being over poetic!

Julia: Yes, I mean it's fun, but I think there's also something cool that I admire in a lot of artists playing today. Where they just like to say what they mean. Yeah, and I'm always kind of like trying to make it feel prettier but there's something cool about the rawness of just saying it. 

Pleaser: As an artist you can kind of be like a perfectionist. How do you go about combating that and also being like, okay, I'm done. This is as good as it's gonna get.

Julia: I think I'm just now actually learning how to do that. I think with most of my releases I have overanalyzed everything to the point that when they come out I'm still not fully satisfied with it. And I think it's literally just the music I'm recording now that I'm really practicing when the song feels like I said what I need to say and I don't need to keep going back and editing. I'm trying to be better at leaving it.

Pleaser: You showed us an unreleased song today and you mentioned that it was the first time you've been able to perform it. What went into getting ready to be able to perform it?

Julia: I’ve performed it solo, but I've never done it with a band or tracks and I think this is my first show ever where I've had in ears and tracks going so I felt like I had more freedom to try a song with more production on it. Personally I think there's just an intensity to it that can only really be captured with the tracks. So it was really like taking the stems and making those tracks and then practicing it with the band and then with just Eric and seeing what felt best for the arrangement, I was just really excited to add something new to the mix. 

Pleaser: What's your favorite part of creating music?

Julia: Honestly, I think my favorite part is when I'm writing the song. Sometimes the production process, like in mixing and stuff, can become these little finicky nitpicky things and that's stressful for me. But I think I find the most joy when I'm getting the feeling out and putting it into words. That's my favorite part. 

Pleaser: So, you'd say that your lyrics come first and then production after?

Julia:  Always. Yeah, I'm experimenting a little more with starting production first, but like pretty much everything I have out and my go-to is just writing and then adding music to it later. 

Pleaser: Finally, what's next after the festival?

Julia: Ooh, I love this question because I'm in a transition period right now where I am newly without management and I'm recording a lot of stuff that is very different than anything I've released and I'm kind of exploring different genres and different subject matters, and it's a different energy, so I'm not touring for the rest of the year. I'm just recording and preparing to roll out the next kind of era of songs.