A Million Keys

Interview with Tara Burke/Fursaxa

Over the past few years, West Philadelphia avant folk chanteuse Tara Burke has released multiple cassettes and CD-Rs on her own label Sylph, as well as a slew of other labels such as Jewelled Antler, Ecstatic Peace, and ATP Recordings, and toured under the name Fursaxa. I only recently discovered her work, and I’ve been listening to it non-stop. Her music- comprised of layered vocals, farfisa organ, flute, minimal percussion and acoustic guitar or mandolin- is atmospheric and mesmerizing. I was interested in hearing more about her approach, so I interviewed Tara over email.

Listen to Fursaxa + Tyranny

When and how did you start recording as Fursaxa? Where did you get the name?
I was playing with the band UN at the time and wanted to start doing my own recordings, and my roommate lent me his four track. I remember the first free day I had, I spent hours in my room recording and really enjoyed it. I got the name from Norse mythology. The name means “iron cutlass” and she was the god Thor’s lover. Oh no- that’s Jarnsaxa! Fursaxa is what my phone number spelled out in an old house I lived in in Philadelphia.

Your work has a distinctive stream of consciousness quality to it- I’m wondering if you can explain your songwriting process. Do you normally improvise? Do you write lyrics? Is it just intuitive? Where do you begin?
I usually begin by recording a track or two, and then listen back and hear what other instruments should be recorded. Sometimes this doesn’t happen though and I have one or two tracks that just lie dormant for many months until I finally figure out how to complete the song. The initial tracks are almost always instruments, and then I add some sort of vocals, sometimes writing lyrics, sometimes not.

You’ve played with many other musicians over the years- and were a member of UN. Your music seems to come from such a personal place, how does that experience differ from your past collaborations?
Yes, my music is coming from a personal place and I think it probably has something to do with the way I record. I always record in my own home and am surrounded by familiar objects and feel comfortable with my surroundings. Also, my music is an outlet for me, so certain events in my life are probably reflected in whatever I am recording at the time.

Your performances have a meditative quality to them. How do you set up that kind of interaction with the audience? Do you ever find it difficult, as one person, to translate your music to performance?
I still get nervous whenever I perform solo, so I think I am trying to get myself into a meditative state whenever I am on stage. And if it also has the same effect on the audience, than all the better. I think my live performances are much different than my recordings. That’s why I’ve released so many live CDRs over the years. It is difficult for me to be 4 people in 1, so I try and play 1 or 2 of the same instruments that I use in the recorded song, but not everything. Quite often when I practice I will try to play a recorded song and it sort of turns into something else. I guess what I am trying to say is that I start with a basic structure and make it more freeform, almost improvised.

Could you describe the general direction for your latest release Kobold Moon? It also features art work by Alain Valet- how did that collaboration come to be?
Well, I have been wanting to start my own label for a couple of years now, and I wanted the first Sylph release to be a Fursaxa record. I would have liked to have done LP records, but couldn’t really afford to do that, so I decided to do CDs. I am really into unique and beautiful album artwork, and wanted to release a product that combines music with art. One of the first things I remember about Alain is that he wanted to trade his art for some of my music, and he sent me this package in the mail and the envelope was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen; he had marbelized it. And then inside there was his beautiful work. I think that our aesthetics are quite similar in that we like handmade objects that are devoid of stuff like plastic wrappers and jewel cases and such.

What bands or records have you been listening to lately?
I think I have put the Fleetwood Mac’s “Bare Trees” on several times this last week. Its a good spring time listen. Just got the two new Time Lag releases, Joshua Burkett and Ilyas Ahmed which I really like. Kris Kristofferson has been on the turntable quite a few times lately as well.