It’s not often enough that we can recognize an all-female band, but today we can celebrate Denver’s newest all-female trio, Barbara, and the release of their debut, full-length album. The album, titled Escape Artist, was released on September 16 and was commemorated with a same-day, in-store performance at the infamous Twist & Shout Records on East Colfax. As the weight of this achievement sets in, the three women of Barbara reflect on the past few years of coming together as female musicians and close friends, finding their sounds both individually and as a group, and reaching the feat of creating their first album.1swde1e
Escape Artist is distinctive from other albums in a couple of ways, one of which is how its artist came to be. Camilla Vaitaitis, Anna Panella and Bridget Hartman met as students studying music in college and eventually became roommates in 2020. During the pandemic and feeling tired of their trained instruments, the three musicians began exploring new instruments and over the course of the lockdown, they naturally started writing songs together. “As roommates and best friends, the songwriting process between the three of us proved to be very natural, free of judgment and fluid,” Vaitaitis said. “Soon, we had too many songs to deny becoming an official band, and Barbara was born.”
The second distinction of note, Escape Artist features Vaitaitis, Panella and Hartman playing not their trained instruments, but the secondary instruments that they learned during lockdown. Jazz pianist Vaitaitis chose guitar, Hartman switched from tenor saxophone to bass and trombonist Panella became a drummer. Vaitaitis reflected on this seemingly bold choice, saying that choosing these newfound instruments to play on the album “gives our music a sense of purity, discovery and makes our sound totally unique.” Composing together as part of their daily routine, Barbara’s sound has “the quality of being lived in.”
Though not chosen purposefully, the theme of Escape Artist organically arrived at heartbreak, particularly the “heartbreak of caring too much in the wrong way, or in a way that at least feels wrong.” During the songwriting process, this idea of heartbreak caused by internal conflict presented itself, and the trio ran with it. The band’s debut single “Houdini” came first, a song named after the world-famous escape artist himself. “Musically, Escape Artist became a personification of being in opposition with yourself,” Vaitaitas said. “Both the realization that your biggest obstacles reside in your own mind, and the act of overcoming them.”
In opposition to these hauntingly beautiful sentiments and the masterful compositions that accompany them in Escape Artist, Barbara feels grounded and in the right place here in Denver. The sense of community within the local music scene “feels special because of the genuine people we constantly meet and the friendships that are formed and last beyond just music,” Vaitaitas reflected. From the isolation of their home to the “historic pillar” that is Twist & Shout Records, this community has taken care of Barbara. “We have received a lot of support from musicians in the scene who have shown genuine excitement about what we’re creating, and we feel very grateful for that.”
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