Julia Logue Emerges From Her Hideaway With New Single “Fort”

 

☆ BY Makena Alquist

Photo courtesy of Oliver King

 
 

OVER THE LAST THREE YEARS EVERYONE HAS BECOME FAMILIAR — with isolation. Loneliness, fear, depression — all the feelings that come along with prolonged solitude can make someone feel completely alone. Julia Logue perfectly confronts this overwhelming solitude on her newest jazzy indie-pop single, “Fort.”

With “Fort,” Logue confronts her experience with isolation, having imposed it on herself as a form of what she thought was protection. The song encompasses the feelings that came along with Logue’s self-isolation, and celebrates the people who helped her escape them. With her first single in over a year, Logue is excited to be returning to the scene. 

“It feels really good [to be releasing music again],” Logue says. “I initially had planned to start releasing singles a year ago, but I realized I just needed to give myself some more time.” 

Logue spent that extra time perfecting the single with her producers Jon Luc Hefferman and Justin Yu Kiatvongcharoen. Coming together as the result of collaboration over Hefferman’s SoundCloud loops, they were able to refine the original rough version of “Fort.” As the group further improved the track, Logue realized she had found the collaboration that she yearned for in her lyrics.

“I wrote it in like a very dark period in my life,” Logue explains, “and it took a long time to break down those walls or those things that I thought were protecting me. Finishing the song allowed me to kind of come out of that, so the song wasn't finished until I felt better too.”

With influence from the lo-fi scene, including artists such as Kiefer and bands Hiatus Kaiyote and Moonchild, Logue and her team were able to find the right sound for the single. A jazzy bedroom-pop song with beautiful lead vocals that shine atop of a funky bassline, each aspect of “Fort” works individually to make the whole song feel complete. When put together, the music and vocals combine to bring an effortless sense of joy to brighten the darker overall themes of the track, allowing “Fort” to be open to multiple interpretations, something Logue embraces.  

“It's been interesting showing people this song without giving them context because I've had some people be like, ‘Oh, wow, is this a love song? Who is this about?’” she says. “Or people will say it feels like a certain season, and I really love that. I hope that people can continue to take away… whatever. Whatever they get from it, that's what I want them to have from it.” 

Embracing the collaborative experience, Logue formed another team to create the upcoming music video for “Fort”, out February 3. With help from director Greyfaen Eastland, Logue crafted a vivid visualization of the feeling of talking herself through a hard time. 

“I feel like my songwriting always comes back to me talking to myself,” she explains. “So that's the concept for the video: you see one version of me that is closed-off, the person thinking they're protecting themselves in this ‘fort.’ Then the other person is my higher self who knows this isn't going to help, that I have to come out of that.”

The collaborative process leading up to the single has Logue excited for the future, determined that it will not be another full year between releases. 

“There will definitely be more music to come soon, and I am super stoked to get it out there.”

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