Meet rbke

Let me introduce you to the person who only needs one vowel to crank out wicked atmospheric, haunting folky songs. Armed with a harp, and a downright enchanting vocal style they push folk into exciting new places, scary new places, and places that I have come to really love. Slip and slide into our latest interview with rbke.

Primetime Gossip a Mad-lib by, rbke

The ever SCRUMMY."Gilligan's EAST HARPTREE, SOMERSET" looks as though it will end up a DELICATE feature PASTRY. Both Universal BERRIES and Paramount TARTS are competing to turn this GOLDEN comedy into a SWEET blockbuster What world-famous ROLLING PIN designer is SKILLFULLY tearing his ARM out? His staff sold the same provocative and SAVOURY low-cut APRON to two of TV's leading BAKERS. The women hate each other's HANDS

Would You Rather

be stuck in an elevator with a Mudman or an Elmo costume that is filled with rats?

Mudman, without a doubt. I can wash the mud off me when I get free, but no shower would ever be able to cleanse me of the memory of rats encased in an Elmo costume.

Some questions with rbke

If you could ask another musician any question who would it be and what would you ask?

It's a really difficult-to-break tie between asking Antonin Dvorak to add a harp part to his 8th Symphony and asking David Bowie to marry me.


Do you have any house plants? How are they doing?

I just had to let go of a succulent my friend sent me. I am a catastrophic plant killer. I recently had to take care of a roommate's numerous plants while she was on tour and it was extremely stressful. I actually skyped a friend with a particularly green thumb to get her opinion on the plants' health. I don't think I killed any of them, but I did move out shortly thereafter so that is unconfirmed.

How do you approach the complex layering of your sounds when composing a song?

This EP was a process of chipping away at songs over many months. I showed up to the studio with nothing but a single progression of four chords (that we didn't even end up using). Zubin Hensler - who recorded, produced, and mixed everything - helped me build a palette of sounds, and bit by bit, we built up the whole thing. I only took my harp into the studio the first day (it's a process to move), and many of the harp sounds are actually sampled/manipulated from that first day. This worked for me because I wanted to make something that had some distance between myself and the harp. My favourite sound on the whole thing (aside from the ripping guitar solo that Gregg played on "Through") is me blowing into my hydroflask (also on "Through"). There are actually two separate hydroflask sounds played by two different people on that track that were created without knowledge of each other.

What's the most vivid dream or nightmare you had in 2019?

I actually can't answer this because I have almost exclusively nightmares and they're all terrifying. Currently working to exorcise them from my being.


Can you give us some context for your recent release? What does the process of “Break through arrive here” mean to you?

I oscillate between wanting to share this, and wanting to keep it close to me in order to not influence how others hear the music. "break through arrive here" is about going from the worst, most confusing situation I've ever been in, to something that is more sound and whole than I've ever experienced. It's darkness to light, chaos to calm. It's breaking the cycle, finding the footing, and a hand outstretched to pull you through.

How do you navigate the space between classical music and chamber pop?

As with a lot of harpists, I have a classical music background. I started playing when I was 8, went to a performing arts high school, got a degree in Harp Performance at the University of Toronto and barely stopped to breathe. I've spent many years since trying to (whether consciously or not) undo a lot of the rigidity that was ingrained in me. My musical interests became more heavily alternative in my teen years and I was always looking towards making my own music. The majority of sounds on my first two EPs came from string quartets, and gradually I've moved away from that comfort zone of a format to give myself even more space from classical music. This EP is about as far out as I've gotten, both with my instrumentation and the approach to the harp.


Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Has this in any way shaped your music?

I have a hard time saying that I'm an introvert, though I have, in the past, recharged by being alone. Something really different happens when you meet someone that you actually want to be around all the time, even when you're depleted. I'd say falling in love (at least for me) has made me an extrovert in that sense. And I guess in that way, it's helping me to play out more and become a better performer. When you're with someone that makes you feel this way, you get better and your life gets better as a result of their presence. I definitely feel more full of expression and comfortable expressing it.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Aside from Bernie 2020 (GET OUT AND VOTE) ... I am extremely grateful to the music community here for being so astonishingly nurturing and supportive. The past few years of my life have been tumultuous and beautiful and I feel insanely lucky to be living here (in Brooklyn) right now with these people hearing the music I'm hearing. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.