Features : Exclusive Interview with Charles Barton

Artist Spotlight: Charles Barton

“I like building the electronic soundscape and then bringing in the acoustic elements to add color, texture and an organic feeling. I don’t want it to feel too saturated with the digital sounds,” Charles Barton said.

With humility and depth, Charles Barton reflects on a journey that’s as personal as it is public.

FreshMusicWorld: What have been some of the most important lessons you’ve learned navigating the music industry?

Charles Barton: Many people, including award-winning producers and artists, have given me feedback, opinions, technical advice -- and that's great -- but ultimately what matters most to me is how I feel about a song and being clearly honest with myself about it. That goes for whether I love it or I don't, or whether I'm unsure. It's got to be a firm yes to move forward, and if I feel passionate about the direction, I don't want to let someone else's opinion turn it into something I'm not passionate about.

FreshMusicWorld: How do you evaluate which opportunities are worth pursuing?

Charles Barton: If it's not a strong "yes," then it's probably a "no". I've found that of all the opportunities or relationships I've pursued, it's the ones that I was unsure about that eventually lose steam.

But I go back to my philosophy of if I'm passionate about it and I love it, then those auxiliary mind traps don't matter. I enjoy my audience, but I think in order to truly make the audience happy, I can't consider them at all when it comes to creating something new.

FreshMusicWorld: How do you think about your audience when you’re creating new material?

Charles Barton: I have lots of thoughts and opinions that come to mind: "Will my close colleagues like this?" "Is this too different from my previous work?" "Are my followers going to like jumping around genres?" "Is this too similar to something else that's out there?"

FreshMusicWorld: What kind of response from listeners feels most meaningful to you?

Charles Barton:I love it when people share the impact a song or album has had on them. Even if it's something as simple as "I love listening to your album when I'm working". That was my first album sale years ago; just someone who wanted to listen to "Pooltime" while they wrote code at the office. I also enjoy hearing what my close friends think about my work and what songs resonate the most with them.

FreshMusicWorld: How do you maintain a connection with listeners as your work evolves?

Charles Barton: I think this is a challenge because I consider myself a studio musician and producer, not a performing artist. So I don't do shows. What's keeping me connected most is probably social media and seeing people's reactions to both the music and the visuals that I post with them. As my social media presence develops, I plan on interacting more with my audience: polls, taking suggestions, and maybe even building songs piece by piece with crowdsourced decisions on social media.

FreshMusicWorld: What role do listeners play in motivating you to continue creating?

Charles Barton:It's always been motivating to hear what my close friends have to say about my work and they continue to motivate me. A broader audience is still pretty new to me, within the past several years, and I'm loving the response. It's incredibly motivating to see the positive reactions on social media or see my streams or downloads continue to grow. Even something as simple as seeing people re-share my posts is super cool.

FreshMusicWorld: How do you personally measure growth as an artist?

Charles Barton: Music as a business is new to me, so I tend to stay grounded in how an artist's sound develops over the years, myself included. If I can continue to love the work I'm putting out there year after year, and I can audibly tell it's getting better -- quality, songwriting, any of these things -- I think that's growth.

FreshMusicWorld: What impact do you hope your work has on those who spend time with it?

Charles Barton: I've got many kinds of songs: ambient, cinematic, love songs, sad songs. My upcoming album reflects some pretty stressful and depressing moments in my life. But the way I view my work is that it shares the musical output of those experiences with the audience in hopes that it will resonate in a positive way with their own life experience. Sharing these experiences makes us feel less alone and more connected.

FreshMusicWorld: What areas of your artistry are you most focused on developing next?

Charles Barton: I'm definitely exploring using my voice more in my own work. "lost space" and the upcoming album "grey thoughts" are my first published works with vocals, and I've kept them pretty simple, but I plan on exploring more work that features my voice.

FreshMusicWorld: How do you envision the next phase of your creative journey?

Charles Barton: I want to continue integrating other genres into my work and exploring my use of vocals as well as working with other vocalists. Over the past couple of years, I've been incorporating more and more acoustic instruments, and I want to continue to do this to keep the organic feel alive in my work. I also plan on collaborating more with other artists this year, so definitely keep an eye out for that!