Indie electronic from Great Barrier

Dubbed “one of the most captivating voices in the indie”, Great Barrier makes music with a refreshing originality. As its title might suggest, the aritst’s Ephemera EP is a debut that finds permanence in the impermanent – chronicling the kinds of late night ruminations and elusive emotions that can feel like trying to grab candlesmoke. It’s a collection which tells stories of isolation through the punchy rhythms and hazy melodies of a dancefloor, and which subtly draws out manufactured sounds with slow-building, natural progressions.

The four-song Ephemera EP is the first artist release from Great Barrier, AKA New York producer Jackson Firlik, who takes on every role from songwriter to lead vocalist to mastering engineer on this truly personal statement from a musician otherwise renowned for collaboration.

Most recently, Firlik’s production on the debut album from fellow New York artist B.Miles was praised as “a bridge to pop music’s future” by Ones To Watch and “carefully constructed calamity” by Refinery29. While this debut release is uniquely, singularly his own, it’s those signature contrasts – the forward-thinking and the accessible, the methodical and the sublime – that resonate through. 

Lifted from the EP comes the final entry track from the debut EP, “Undefined”, a meditation on overthinking things and never being able to find the right words to say. With a subtle swagger to his vocal delivery, on “Undefined” he offers a downtempo indie piece full of piquant instrumental texture and rhythm threaded throughout.

Listen to Undefined below

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