Caroline Polachek fans listen up, we’ve got just the local act for you!
That’s right, we want you to meet Bria Harper, AKA Stocker.
She’s our Feature Artist all this week who’s set to tangle you up in her enchantingly haunted sonic world and we reckon you’ll be hearing a lot more of her.
So what’s her story we hear you ask?
“Stocker is my mother's maiden name so a lot of it draws from inspiration I had as a child”
Growing up in Albury–Wodonga, a young Bria began her musical journey singing in choirs, falling in love with choral music and the organ.
Stepping into her artistry overtime, it wasn’t until her mid-teens that she really began leaning into her pop influences.
“I became really interested in writing hit songs and why they're more complicated than they seem on the surface”
She then “started getting serious” when she met her co-producer James Halstead AKA TEJAVU. Jumping in the studio two to three days a week,
“Our goal was to make as much as possible and be the best songwriters and producers we could be”
Having her music described to her as 'big,' Stocker is making creations that’ll stop you in your tracks.
Infused with so much character, she captures her own music as “eclectic and chaotic but somehow it all seems to work together”.
“Even if it's like major happy sounding like a choir, you can make something sound so haunting and that epitomises the themes of my music”
Fascinated by intricate production elements, her ways of inverting the expectation of the audience truly move the needle forward. Never fearing to experiment with new sounds, textures and concepts, Stocker continually pushes the boundaries of pop music.
“I love haunting music… not by a ghost but by a love, or a thing, or a person, or your past”
With her influences evolving overtime, Bria reflects on “listening to more folky inspirations like Carly Simon's first album and Ainslie Wills” in the early days whilst maintaining the duality of being a “2014 Tumblr girl”. She is heavily inspired by the likes of Lana Del Rey and Marina and the Diamonds.
It is these women who have pioneered that expressive pop in combination with Stocker’s perfectionism which collectively grant her access to the best version of her musical self.
“I slowly feel like I’m growing into the artist that I wanna be”
So if you’re as invested in Stocker as we are, then there’s more where that came from.
“I have an EP on the way called Lip Locked”
As an incredibly emotionally charged body of work, Stocker has described the forthcoming project as “ethereal and modern but with a really timeless feel to it”.
And with that, fans (new and old) can expect even more from 2024, marking the occasion with her first ever headline show… brace yourself as Stocker brings Australian audiences the “live experience”.