Image: Carter Voras
Barf Lord 'Jam Jars'
Barf Lord 'Jam Jars'
Singer-songwriter Carter Voras recently graduated from college, but they’ve already recorded two albums under the alias Barf Lord after a few years playing guitar and singing with the funky indie band Dogbad and countless home recordings in their teens.
Barf Lord makes soothing music that combines lo-fi sounds, voice-driven guitar music with pop sensibilities while flying under the radar with a deliberately grotesque name. Voras, 23, released the single “Jam Jars b/w Plate,” in July, a pair of soulful songs that mix distorted guitars with pop and funk. They also released “A Void” in 2021 and “Plugged in and Online” in 2019.
“Jam Jars” is about attachment to a person or a feeling about another person and learning to let go of them, a metaphor for an ending relationship, Voras said. At the end of the song, the main character separates their attachment from another person but celebrates letting go.
“The song is about, ‘How can I capture you forever and hold you up and observe you?’,” they added. “The energy switch at the end is, ‘I let this person free, or I let go of my attachment to this person.’ Truly getting to know somebody is letting them be themselves in a way.”
Meanwhile, “Plate” is more straightforward and explores being overwhelmed while keeping a simple strong structure, Voras said. While “Jam Jars” is heavier and distorted, “Plates” is carefree and light, a relief from the pile of chores the artist finds themself facing.
A painter by trade, Voras said looking at Expressionist-era paintings helps them understand songwriting when trying to convey emotion through music. “I want people to know the biggest thing about the song is it feels this way. What that looks like in songwriting is image building and specific words to paint a picture,” they said. “I want to describe a mood and not tell you exactly what I’m feeling, but uncover that yourself.”
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At first some people may be turned off by the project’s name, but Voras said they usually change their minds when they hear the music live. Having people lower their expectations or pique their curiosity might lead to a pleasant surprise when they start listening.
“That’s my intention, is to get people to go, ‘What is this crap?’ when they read the name, then they hear it from the bar, see me playing and say, ‘This is Barf Lord?’” Voras said. “That’s the joy I get out of having that name.”
When Barf Lord plays live, Voras is usually central with a cast of rotating members filling in on drums and bass. At the latest show, they played alongside Dogbad’s bassist Ellen Kimberly and drummer A.J. Peal. “Our chemistry is just perfect,” they added.
Painting Over Music
Image: Carter Voras
Barf Lord 'A Void'
Barf Lord 'A Void'
Though Barf Lord was well-received live and Voras is open to the possibility of touring, they had an epiphany during a Dogbad concert in Chicago that shifted their focus to painting over music. “Music and performing has been a big part of my life, but I don’t necessarily want it to lead to anything huge,” they said. “There’s a lot more joy I get from presenting than I get from performing music.”
While “A Void” was distorted and heavily produced, Voras said they wanted to play with the opposite after the production bubble burst. “I have this project on the backburner right now but the goal is to create something moodier and softer,” they said, pointing to “Jam Jars” as evidence of this new direction.
There’s no set date for the next recording, but Voras said they were writing songs and figuring out what image to present next. They emphasized having music with more depth in meaning while leaving overproduction in the bin, and to have “something intensively soft,” but would shock the listener when they revisit and read between the lines.
“I want to play with intense happiness and bitter sadness. But neither of those are inherently negative feelings to have,” they said. “I want to talk about complex feelings, stuff that’s almost shameful to talk about sometimes.”
Listen to the latest Barf Lord single on Spotify.
