VICTORIA BIGELOW
AFTER DELIVERING HER STUNNING DEBUT, SONGS FOR NO ONE VOL. 1, THE ARIZONA-BASED SONGSTRESS RETURNS WITH HER NEXT, AND EQUALLY IMPRESSIVE FOLLOW-UP SONGS FOR NO ONE VOL. 2 AND WE FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW THE TWO BODIES OF WORK BOOKEND HER MUSICAL LIFE.
When music is your lifeblood and the substance that courses through your veins, it not only sustains and nourishes your soul, but it is the element that provides the driving force that constantly propels you forward. Both the sword and the shield, it arms and defends against the eternal onslaughts that the world delivers with punishing regularity.
Channelling all of life’s trials and tribulations and processing them through the cathartic filter of music may be the purest form of transformative expression. An approach and ethos that few see the merit in and utilise beyond surface-level appreciation. Yet for some, it is the exclusive zone in which they inhabit and a place they routinely draw inspiration from. Something that can most certainly be said of Arizona-based singer/songwriter artist Victoria Bigelow. Harnessing the bounded force of deep connectivity and expressionism that music affords, the self-affirming strength and sanctity derived from writing, recording, and touring, is the arrowhead Bigelow fires from her bow to pierce through the weighted struggles of life and living.
Upon receiving a cheap guitar at an early age, it is an instrument that has barely left her side ever since. Aided and abetted by her acoustic soul mate, it is fair to say that music has been the one underlying constant in her life. Before fame arrived at her doorstep and before her name was in the public sphere, the personal and private world of Bigelow’s music was all unto her own. A prism through which the world was viewed, analysed, and reimagined. So enmeshed is life and music, that the notion of music not being a part of her life is simply unimaginable. “It’s hard to separate my musical journey from my journey as a human because they’re so closely intertwined. Music has been a place I’ve sought solace since I was really young and it’s been like shining a light on my subconscious since I began writing songs.” A place that as Bigelow describes, is uniquely personal and until recently, a private area that very few had the pleasure of enjoying. “It was something I did just for myself for a long time but putting my first songs out in 2019 really made it feel real for me, like this is something I want and believe in. That’s probably been the most significant period, deciding to share the thing I love to do.” A private language that was exclusively spoken by only Bigelow that was hers and hers alone. A dialogue with the world that previously knew no bounds or strictly speaking, didn’t have to make any sense, yet suddenly when offered to the wider world, that language had to adhere to the digestible rules demanded by public consumption. A scary proposition indeed, although despite its many trappings and pitfalls, it is an undertaking that can come with high rewards.
Transferring from the idiosyncratic and sacred safety of one's inner sphere to a public domain is hard enough in its own right yet translating it is another. Unlocking the vault of one's emotional, intimate thoughts and worldly experiences is never easy nor is it a choice taken lightly, because once opened, that inner world becomes exposed and is bequeathed to the world where it will forever remain. The aptly named Songs For No One Vol. 1 was released in 2019 and was Bigelow’s first foray into the musical world. Now followed up by Songs For No One Vol. 2, it is by looking back in order to see forward, that it is possible to understand how Bigelow’s first installment and the foundations of Songs For No One Vol. 1, have carried through to the latest record and how Songs For No One Vol. 2 has been informed by its predecessor.
Sharing similarities and yet with notable differences, it was the Southwest and its dramatic landscapes and earthly soul that imprinted itself on Bigelow and in turn, imbued Songs For No One Vol 1. with its distinctive character. As Bigelow honestly explains, “Songs For No One Vol. 1 as a whole was me writing through feelings of isolation and my struggle with my mental health, against the backdrop of the world burning. I was in a heavy place, and I found being in the Southwest very inspiring. There’s something about the energy here that feels both powerful and neutral, like you can take in and shape the space into whatever you want. There was a lot of that inspiration behind both Songs For No One Vol. 1 and Songs For No One Vol. 2. The Southwest feels mystical and expansive, so that’s the place I was in while writing this music.” It can be during the darkest times and wrestling with internal struggles that mother nature can reach out and provide the sanctity and solitude that is needed, and what better place than the vast deserts of Arizona to free the mind, release the spirit, and replenish the body? Healing deep cuts, the Southwest with its regenerative properties, had recharged the soul and with a sense of renewed vigour, Bigelow was a phoenix rising.
Literally and figuratively, a location can impart more than just its inherent attributes. There is a saying in the recording industry that ‘misery sticks to tape’ which isn't necessarily a slight towards negative emotions but rather a compliment in that the more intense a feeling is, the more sincere it feels and forever remains so on record. Capturing the location, era, and sentiments at the time of recording is a measured approach that some artists consider when contemplating how an album and one’s present moments in their recorded life will sound in the future and reverberate throughout the years as Bigelow shares. “I try my best to not get too caught up in the current sounds or trends of music right now, I hope that my music has a timeless quality, and 200 years from now if someone randomly stumbles upon a song of mine I hope they can love it and relate to it.”
Simply getting the tracks down in the first place is always the first step in recording, and for Bigelow that challenge presented itself in the form of third parties, their process, and incongruent creative directions as she goes on to say. “The biggest challenges were things out of my control. There was a song that we recorded like five times because it kept getting reworked or another producer would begin working on it only for it to not work out. Which is cool, I embrace whatever happens because that’s how it was supposed to be, but things like that get really frustrating when you’re dealing with songs that mean a lot to you and you want other people to also give a shit.” An all too familiar situation when recording material as the dialogue between artist and producer can be strained and tested at times. Yet conversely, “The greatest surprises were how much we just didn’t care when things didn’t go the way we had planned, we just rolled with it and stayed focused on having fun with the music we were making.” A perfect case of tension and release that eventually yielded a mutual outcome of satisfaction and a well-crafted body of work. However, before even getting into the studio requires material with which to work, and although every track is unequivocally Bigelow’s, it didn’t come without a little accompaniment.
Working alongside her partner Devan, the musicality the two share is one of intimacy and intuitiveness that transpires into Songs For No One Vol. 2. A productive force that simply would not have yielded the same results given a collaboration with band members or session musicians. Bigelow echoes the point when saying, “We are like a single brain at this point, which can come with its own challenges (laughs), but the recording process is really natural and painless. We’re at home, we trust each other, and we both really love and believe in the music. There’s a shorthand and an understanding that I wouldn’t have with other people.” A symbiotic relationship that blends the individual strengths of each so that the collective sum is greater than its parts.
Often a record can be a lifetime's worth of experiences concentrated and refined into a single body of work that encompasses many years and phases in life. Other times it is a snapshot, a brief period, covering a specific epoch that is crystallized on wax. For Bigelow there wasn’t a clear distinction for Songs For No One Vol. 2. “I’d say it was a bit of both. There’s a lot of my past and my story contained in these songs, though. It feels very much like a snapshot because I can feel the place I was in while writing, but I’m expressing my journey through my 20s pretty consistently throughout.” And of the five tracks spanning across the record, Bigelow is humble when saying, “This EP is about confronting parts of myself I don’t want to carry forward, while also accepting and celebrating the love and good that I have in my life. There’s a sense of nostalgia, but also hope.” A striking sentiment that many can resonate with when attempting to process the past, sift through one’s personal and inter-personal experiences, and decide how best to manage those earlier events in life whilst at the same time trying to look forward and take those hard-learned lessons into the future for an overall better life.
Some lessons of course needn't be hard fought or painfully earned but rather can be a gift from one’s peer. The value of such, worth its weight in gold, pays dividends for years to come. For Bigelow, it was some sage words from industry guru and record producer extraordinaire Tony Berg, a man whose career spans decades, that really struck a chord. Performing with Air Supply, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, working with artists such as Public Image Ltd, and Altered State, and having a hand in signing iconic acts such as Beck and At the Drive-In during his tenor at the famous Geffen Records, his reputation most certainly precedes him. “He’s so fucking cool”, Bigelow exclaims, “I soaked in everything he said like a sponge, but the two things that really stuck with me were “be an antenna” and “it’s your literal job as an artist to consume everything. Movies, books, poetry, art, you need to know it all and absorb it all”. At the end of the day I’m just here to spit out whatever I take in, and meeting him was a good reminder of where I want to go.” This is an important reminder when considering the creative process as a whole and what particular creative veins to mine when scouring through a broad and eclectic range of inspirations that, if successfully harvested, will eventually coalesce into a fully-fledged recorded piece that can be enshrined in sound. Yet even by Bigelow’s admission, that can be a haphazard process whilst waiting until something stands out and deciding if an idea is worth pursuing. “I never know what I’m writing about until the song is done, and even then, sometimes it takes me a minute to understand what I’m trying to communicate. My writing process typically begins as psychobabble and then I follow whatever feels good. Sometimes when I get stuck I’ll turn to poetry and writers I admire. They know better than I do most of the time.” A nod to Berg’s suggestion and a tried and tested methodology that appears to offer Bigelow a creative source in spades.
No matter what however, the initial draw and personal connection with music remains steadfast and fundamental to Bigelow. A reliable constant that is hers and hers alone. To ask for nothing yet to give so much, the intangible construct of musical expression is so beautifully summarised by Bigelow when she describes her own relationship with music. “Music gives me my own private corner of the world, and my own private dance with whatever is around us.” And yet as much as music has always provided for Bigelow, there is but one greater force that rivals and far exceeds anything it had previously supplied, and that for Bigelow is motherhood. “Being a mother is really wonderful, I think being a parent is the most illuminating thing a person can do for themselves.” And coming from the depths where she has at times battled her inner demons, the guiding light can come at a time when it is needed the most and alter the course of one's trajectory forever.
Circumnavigating the youthful and solitary world of the individual, Bigelow has traversed a lonely and difficult journey to arrive at a harmonious duality under the banner of partnership. Since that time, she has plotted a course to a new destination with new goals and expanded to a collective and inseparable unit of three. Bigelow has navigated her way through life, resisting its troughs, and riding what crests there were to reach a place that may have seemed impossible and imperceptible as a young adult but now is giving her the control, forward motion, and happiness that is now available for the world to witness.
Bridging Songs For No One Vol. 1 and Songs For No One Vol. 2. across many years can now be seen with the clarity hindsight affords. Marking the changes internally and externally the two records sit alongside each other and sing the cathartic tunes of a life lived, a life that will never be the same again, and a life that is still unfolding.
