BILLY NOMATES: “MUSIC IS A SOULFUL CONNECTION, NO MATTER HOW YOU DRESS IT”
Ahead of her strikingly self-aware second album, Tor Maries - aka Billy Nomates - catches up with VOCAL GIRLS’ Dani Murden to talk all things balance, solo songwriting, and the trials and tribulations of human existence.
“I do always think with this record - that it is just a bunch of songs”, states Tor Maries humbly, as we talk over Zoom about her upcoming second album, ‘CACTI’. The Bristol-based solo-artist has become known for her husky vocals and pIayful electronic instrumentals. This unique and powerful combination has earnt her a Glastonbury debut on the Left Field stage as well as regular 6 Music playlist support.
As we speak over Zoom, I’m not sure if it’s the combination of Maries’ quaint kitchen backdrop, or her instant eloquence in speaking so vulnerably, but there’s something which makes our chat delightfully authentic. This gracious spirit defines Billy Nomates, and whilst this fast-approaching album is brash and bold, it's also sincere and completely guileless.
Billy Nomates - the moniker given to Maries’ artistic project - was born out of her seeking a channel to journal and express her emotions back in 2020. Stepping into the light in the midst of the pandemic with her debut single ‘No’, Maries assuredly set the score for her ferocious works to come. Skip forward to the beginning of 2023, and listeners are eagerly awaiting a second album from the mastermind behind this unapologetic solo project.
“One of my first memories of melody was learning to play some Shetland jigs and traditional folk songs [on the fiddle]”, Maries tells me as we chat about her early interactions with music. These roots in Celtic folklore may seem like a leap to the electronic explorations she shares today, but Maries says otherwise: “It's a big leap, and yet when you really scrutinise it, it’s not. Melodically, the way that harmony works, and understanding the way all of that pieces together - it very much feels like that's the root of all music. Folk music and people making sense of life through melody [in electronic music] is the same thing really, just in a different context”.
This recognition of music as an emotional outlet is extremely prevalent throughout the forthcoming album. “What I do think this record hopefully does is show a spectrum of emotion, and how I've survived that. It's vulnerable in places, it's softer in places.” But there’s an undeniable urgency to it too, says Maries:“It carries the same thread as most of my other music; I feel like perhaps everything [I create] comes from a place of just needing to express emotion”.
The new record instantly calls us to action with the unfettered single, ‘Balance Is Gone’. Exploring the motivation behind the track, Maries speaks boundlessly about our collective relationship with balance and our strive to find alignment with ourselves and the world. Our desire for equilibrium is, perhaps, what causes more struggle. She describes life as a “greased tightrope” that we’re “constantly falling off”, whilst seeking things which feel slightly out of reach. Sonically, these themes are echoed by the track’s urgent drum beats, demanding lead lyrics and the panicked backing vocals repeating the eponymous phrase “the balance is gone”. Embracing this chaos, Maries posits that “as human beings, we need to feel a little bit wild. We’re these domesticated things that exist in the world now, but we have to be able to lose our ship sometimes”.
Given that such a sense of control and regulation has been ingrained into our everyday lives for the past three years, her rejection of stability is particularly refreshing. “I wonder if it's just human nature…a constant part of our existence is that paradox of seeking balance, and rejecting it because it’s boring”. Elsewhere, the album continues to epitomise this acceptance of fluctuation, from the mellow to-ing and fro-ing of ‘Roundabout Sadness’ to the assured groove and juxtaposed, questioning lyrics of ‘Vertigo’. The variation in moods between tracks seems to aptly represent human existence, neatly epitomising our journeys and the true spectrum of our minds.
‘spite’ is a covert love song”, laughs Maries as she tells me about the December single. She admits that the track was triggered after visiting the house of an “individual [she] rather liked”, who spent the whole visit fitting a washing machine. She left feeling pretty hard done by, but returned nonetheless. “I was thinking [to myself], why would I spend the energy? Why wouldn't I just walk away? And then I suddenly realised that it's because spite comes out of caring”. Maries seems to use spite as her secret weapon against feelings of injustice, commenting that we seem to do contradictory things, like going back to visit the “washing machine person” as “a bit of a power flex, like ‘look, I’m calm’, when in reality you’re hurt and spite [is] all you have left to hide that”.
As we discuss the record and the writing process it entailed, Maries’ down-to-earth nature continues to shine through. She explains how she wrote much of ‘CACTI’ at home, before taking it to Invada Studios, playing and experimenting with different instruments. Although, she notes it wasn’t as fun as it sounds: “I threw most of it in the bin and just decided I wasn't any good. I stepped away from it all for a couple of months and I didn't know if I was going to finish it at one point, truly”. There’s an apparent relentlessness to Maries’ self-criticism as a solo songwriter, and she acknowledges her struggle of being at the mercy of her own mind. “There are pros and cons to being a solo writer - you just live and die by your decisions, good or bad. Sometimes, I feel like I'm [simultaneously] the builder and the destroyer. I will build things and I will also knock them down, and I can do that on the same day”.
“Sometimes, I feel like I’m [simultaneously] the builder and the destroyer. I will build things and I will also knock them down, and I can do that on the same day”.”
Nevertheless, with this critique comes self-awareness, and Maries wisely recognises how her self-criticism could impact the trajectory of her career, and the motivation it has given her to look inwards. “It’s involved a lot of self exploration, a real deep look into things, and it's deeply uncomfortable sometimes. But also, as a human being, it's sort of like, ‘wow, I get to do that’”. There’s something particularly poignant about this attitude in relation to ‘CACTI’; a sense of fierce resilience and authenticity which is acknowledged so rifely within the album as a whole.
There’s great breadth to our conversation: Maries discusses moving down South as a teenager; her ruthless self criticism; her experiences in bands; and her personal journey with self-growth. All these subjects, in some way, inform what we hear in Billy Nomates’ discography. While this album details Maries’ self-discovery, it also prompts us as the listener to look in the mirror more deeply, and cements Maries’ defiant ability to authentically capture human existence. There is no doubting her spring and strength, and it is the title of ‘CACTI’ which perhaps best summarises these qualities. I didn’t expect, artistically speaking, to survive the past couple of years, but I’m here, and everything is quite mad”. The cacti, then: an emblem of survival, independence, and self-sufficiency against the odds.
‘CACTI’ is out today, via Invada Records.
