Charlotte Roberts is from the Macedon Ranges in regional Victoria. Her new single “Dreams Are Made Of” is one to listen to, and we think this multidisciplinary artist has a lot to offer.
We wanted to learn more about Charlotte Roberts, and are grateful that she took the time to answer our questions:
What is experimental art pop?
The result of improvising, a mish-mash of vocal play, a pop-like catchy-ness but slightly mix and match song-form with a dash of quirky lyrics or surprising sounds.
Tell us about Dreams are Made Of…
It’s a song that reminds me to keep going and represents the voice that has pulled me out of some very dark places. It’s an affirmation to be persistent in the face of chaos.
Listen to the song here:
What is The Musical Body?
It’s a process that has its roots in conversations with my grandad when I was around 10 years old and he and I would brainstorm ideas for ways to change the world through creativity and connecting with life and tuning into nature. The process started to make sense when I was 18 and started leading sound-play and song-writing in groups in camps…
It became much clearer around 2008 when I began studies in somatics and movement therapy; and the workshops I was running bridged relationships between body, breath, sound and musical improvisation. The last ten years, it has become a meditative process to tune into our bodies and cultivate spontaneity, musicality, play and harmony.
It has therapeutic effects as we connect to our bodies, voices and create all kinds of improvised song-poems and pieces in response to what is alive in us in our dreams, lives, and relationships.
You live in regional Victoria, what kind of influence does this have on your music?
There’s a song in this upcoming album ‘Incantations’ called ‘Jim Jim’. This song is a dedication to my folks and the hill where I (partly) grew up on Djadja Wurrung country. There’s magpie song and I feel like the music is a reflection of the landscape (both inner and outer) that I experienced growing up; being able to tune in with nature, be listened to by the cows and all kinds of creatures. Having a sanctuary.
I wrote my first album Stay in your power whilst living out in Bend of Islands on Wurundjeri land, and do feel that being out of the city gives me more space to steadily compose and produce music.
In 25 words or less, who IS Charlotte Roberts?
Me, emerging, unknown, blood and bones, ideas, music, animals, curious, teacher, singing, dancing, healing and growing, remembering who I was as a little girl.
How did you get started?
Singing for pleasure, following my pleasure, singing to release, singing to move-forward, dancing to (all the above).
What can we expect from your upcoming second album, Incantations?
Some song-poems, some songs to dance to, some confusion perhaps, some feeling, some excitement, some saucy-ness, some feel-good moments, some awkwardness, some crinkles, some mess, some juiciness and fun.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Dancing, listening to music, friends and family, playing with others, children, animals, trees, my dog- Willow Juju, teachers, the internet, comedians, chocolate, food in general, steak and baked vegetables.
Where did the idea for the Dreams are Made Of cover artwork come from?
Wilk- photographer genius and Aline Joyce- make-up artist genius combined (These shots are from a few years ago…they are from the shoot we did for the Stay in your power album)
What does music mean to you?
A rich, sometimes private, sometimes shared pleasure, always resonating inside, a bliss, a ‘must’, a remembering space, an invitation to let go of the parts that avoid giving into the joy of tuning into rhythm, ease, play and child-like wonder for life.
Hi, I’m Anna the Editor of Beauty and Lace.