INTERVIEW: Karamilk on new single 'Swimming Pool': "For the first time it's 100% just me and my sound"
Gold Coast local Erin Foster, who performs under the name Karamilk, first released music last year with her debut single ‘Gone’. Three singles followed, with her music a beguiling mix of indie and electro with threads of the 1980s weaving through them all.
Last week Karamilk released her first new music 2020 with the single ‘Swimming Pool’, which also marks her first ever duet with Sydney-based Sam Parker joining Foster on vocals on the track. A beautifully gentle, low key pop tune with swirling, insistent electro beats ‘Swimming Pool’ is a track that Foster first wrote five years ago. “To be honest, this is a tortured track. I've had a love/hate relationship with this song for years,” she says. I originally built a demo called "Close Enough" back in 2015 and struggled through more than five different versions with various different producers. Recently the track was picked up by a major label and I found myself back in the studio in Brisbane recording yet another version. I came away realising that I was not being true to myself or true to my sounds. Against the advice of so called industry experts, I re-wrote the entire track in a single session at home. A change of key. New instrumentation. A new title. 100% my production and musicianship.” The song marks a new career high for Karamilk and augurs well for her next round of releases.
We recently caught up with Karamilk to find out more about her career and her music.
Hi Erin! So great to be chatting with you. There is light at the end of the self-isolation tunnel, how have you been coping over these past few crazy months?
OMG the world has totally changed. Just like everyone else, all my shows were cancelled. I was supposed to play the Surfers Paradise Live festival and I was arranging a show with a bunch of epic Queensland female artists when it all stopped. I live in the Gold Coast but I had to come back to Sydney to be with my partner for the isolation period and we ended up living with his parents. One good thing is that I was given some studio space to use by Soundworks in Marrickville so I have kept busy finalising my EP.
Congratulations on your new single ‘Swimming Pool’, it is such an incredible song. Can you talk me through the inspiration behind this track?
I first wrote the demo in 2015 and it was about an unorthodox relationship I was in. The kind that your parents and friends don’t understand and approve of. I ended up recording loads of different versions, and a few of them were with different contributors, producers and engineers. I knew exactly what I wanted but struggled to explain the sound and feeling I was craving. One night, during the isolation period, I just scrapped all the versions and re-wrote the entire song. Just like the struggling relationship that inspired the song, I wanted to persevere and make it to the end. In that relationship I lost a few friends and with ‘Swimming Pool’ I kinda lost a few musicians and engineers along the way too!
It is your first ever duet, featuring Sam Parker. How did this collaboration come about?
A producer who is one of my really good mates suggested I try a duet. He introduced me to Sam and we did the vocal take in a single afternoon session. I went on to re-record the vocals with two more guys, but I kept coming back to the original take with Sam and that’s the vocal I ultimately fell back on. To be honest I haven’t had much success yet with collaborations, this is the first one that I can really say I’m proud of.
You’ve said that ‘Swimming Pool’ is the first taste of the ‘real Karamilk’. Can you talk me through what has changed for you with this release?
All the other songs that I released before ‘Swimming Pool’ were recorded in a studio with a producer and engineer. Each time I went into the studio I ended up ‘chasing a sound’. We even had names for it. I would say ‘let’s two door it’ meaning we would channel a Two Door Cinema Club vibe, or something like that. When I discarded all the previous versions of ‘Swimming Pool’ I re-wrote the song in one night, in a bedroom in my partner’s parents house. It was natural. It was easy. For the first time it was 100% just me and my sound.
We love the artwork for this single, it is beautiful! How did it come about?
I’m so glad you love the artwork! I was incredibly lucky and privileged to find the artist. She is based in the UK and was in isolation. I reached out to her and showed her my song and she was totally supportive of my music. As part of an artist exchange she allowed me to use the artwork. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say this but she does some stuff for one of my all time idols, Grimes. I admire her work enormously. I think COVID-19 has brought some good people together and made us all more resourceful.
If we go back to the beginning, what role did music play in your life when you were growing up?
For a lot of my teenage years I lived on a rural property, more than 1 hour away from the nearest town and I was home schooled. It was just me, my younger brother and mum mostly. Dad commuted to work and was away all week. I spent what little money I had on iTunes cards and could connect via satellite internet, sometimes. My dad would play Fleetwood Mac in the car and I knew all the lyrics. When I was about 14 my parents bought me a keyboard and a bit later they got me an old acoustic guitar. Music was all that I had and all that I cared about. School was really tough because I lived in the middle of nowhere and couldn’t stay motivated. I dropped out after year 10 and went on to study a diploma of music.
Was there any particular moment or event that inspired you to pursue music as a career?
Although music was my life, I lacked a lot of confidence and I was a real introvert. I had loads of dreams and aspirations but no idea of how to start a career in music. I remember in 2016 responding to a Facebook post for some lame band that wanted a singer and I auditioned with the guitarist and drummer. After muddling through the audition I played them some of my own material. The guitarist kept wanting to hear more. I must have played him 100 demos that afternoon. A few days later I found myself sitting in a café with him and a producer and we were planning to record the first track. It seems crazy now but I guess I needed someone to believe in me and to back me to get started. That guitarist is Andy and he plays alongside me at every Karamilk show.
How did you develop your career, from first having the idea of being a singer to where you are now?
My career has been developing in small steps. I guess I underestimated how much hard work and time is required to develop my career, but each step has been tremendously rewarding. I’ve played a bunch of open mic nights and really loved it. I remember getting my first radio plays via AMRAP. In fact, my first radio play was on an independent station in Wangaratta and I streamed it from my car! I was privileged to play at the Rockhampton River Festival last year on the main stage and on the same line up as Alice Ivy and The Vanns. I’ve had a great relationship over the past year with 4ZZZ radio in Brisbane and they have been really supportive of my music. My last single, ‘Starry Night’ was played on Triple J and ‘Swimming Pool’ has just been played on Triple J. Each of these are milestones and each further develop my music career.
There has been so much debate in the past year or so about gender equality and sexism in the wake of #metoo. What are your thoughts on how women are treated and portrayed in the music industry?
Imagine writing a song that makes it to number 1 in 35 countries.
Imagine being number 1 in the Australian charts for 6 months straight.
Imagine writing the number 1 most Shazamed song of all time.
Then imagine being criticised and harassed and bullied, mainly because of how you look. Because you refuse to fit into a female pop star stereotype. This is what Tones & I has endured and I can’t help but think that the same would not happen to a guy.
What’s up next for Karamilk?
I’ve got another single, called ‘Hurt’, ready for release in around 8 weeks time so look out for that one! Then I will be releasing an EP once venues and festivals can open again. I miss performing live and I want to time the release of my EP around a national tour.
‘Swimming Pool’ is out now. You can download on iTunes and stream on Apple Music, Spotify and Soundcloud.
To keep up with all things Karamilk, you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
