Artist Interview: boci

By Resonate | April 25, 2022

Words by Anna Partridge

Photos by Beth Goodchild

In this era, musical genres have become more fluid than ever before. An artist using this to her advantage is Bristol’s boci, who fuses folk and electronic elements to create a captivating, dreamy performance armed with incredible Celtic violin influences and loop pedal skills. As a self-taught guitarist, pianist and songwriter, she’s been working the circuit in bands and as a session musician for a while around Bristol. This year there are exciting things in the pipeline as her audience grows with the support of Sofar Sounds, and BBC Radio play. Look out for her monthly releases until her debut album drops in the summer. 

Ahead of all that, I caught up with boci at the Thali restaurant in Easton to find out more about her musical journey.

2020 saw the release of your EP, Long Walk, which is a stunning mix of Celtic folk, hooky melodies, vocal harmonies and intriguing electronic percussive elements. What inspired this group of songs?

All of the songs on Long Walk grew from my desire to make an EP promoting veganism and compassion for animals. Ocean and Long Walk were written quite soon after I first got my loop station. Looping is quite a restrictive way of writing songs, but I actually found this helpful as it forced me to keep things really simple. Downhill was originally a breakup song, but I changed it to be about the process of widening your circle of compassion to non-humans. 

Are there any songwriters that you look to for inspiration when you’re writing?

I’ve been hugely inspired by people like Jack Steadman, Bon Iver, Laura Marling, Joni Mitchell, Sudan Archives, Bjork, FKA Twigs and Aurora. I remember when I was about 15, I heard an interview with Laura Marling talking about the different techniques she uses to write lyrics. She gave the example of pretending she was having a conversation with the ghost of someone she admires from the past. This really stuck with me and opened me up to the idea of experimenting more with my lyric writing. I’m also just really inspired by the whole Bristol music scene… There are always people pushing boundaries you didn’t even know were there to be pushed. I love that about Bristol! 

I notice your notebook looking very used! Is it for lyrics, or do you journal?

I find streams of consciousness really helpful in my songwriting process. I usually will have a seed of an idea or a theme, and then just write down whatever comes into my head. Then I’ll pick out bits I think are interesting and go from there. 

I just try to make stuff that I think sounds nice, or has a feeling that I want to create

Growing up in West Yorkshire, how were you introduced to Celtic and folk traditions? What excited you about them?

I absolutely loved the sound of traditional Irish and Scottish folk whenever I heard it. I was introduced to some folk tunes through my first violin teacher, and then heard them a lot at different festivals when I was a teenager. It fills me with this deep, old, joyous, heart-expanding feeling. I think there’s a decent folk scene in Bradford where I grew up but to be honest, I only really learnt how to play in a properly ‘folky’ style when I joined a Ceilidh band a few years ago. Since then, I’ve learnt most of what I know about folk music from other musicians in Bristol. 

How do you reconcile the fusion between electronic and folk elements? 

I think I just try and make stuff that I think sounds nice, or has a feeling that I want to create. Because the music I listen to the most is folk, singer-songwriter and electronic music, my sound is an amalgamation of these genres. I am definitely at the start of my journey when it comes to the electronic world. I’m very lucky that I have Tom (UncleBoy), my producer, to help me realize my electronic ideas. I think the electronic elements we’ve included in the album so far sound sick!

Last year you were deservingly featured as one of BBC Bristol’s featured artists, after releasing two stunning live performances filmed in Bristol’s historic St Stephens Church. How was that? 

It was really cool! I didn’t actually even send them the live track, as it didn’t cross my mind that they would play a live track on their station. So they saw the video on my Instagram, shared it, and got in touch to ask me if I wanted to be their Spotlight Artist the following week. They then gave me a slot on the BBC Introducing stage at Countryfile Live which I played with Leeem (My Octopus Mind) on double bass. It was lots of fun! And lots of mud and sheep!

You’ve honed your performance craft from years of performing at private events. Some of the best artists of all time have famously started out playing in cover and function bands. How do you think this has affected your performance finesse? 

Playing lots of weddings has definitely improved my guitar and piano playing, as I have to learn a lot of requests. And you can’t really mess up on the most important day of someone’s life! I think that having to perform lots of different genres of music has improved my musicality and broadened my internal library of musical references too.

You announced in your first-ever newsletter last month that you are releasing your debut album this year! What can we expect from it?

Yes! It’s incredibly exciting and rewarding working on it. It’s a very personal collection of songs and pieces that explore empathy, grief, shame, addiction, joy, impermanence and the interconnectedness of all things. I’m working with an amazing producer, Tom Campbell, who has really helped bring my ideas to life. We have quite a lot of crossover when it comes to our music taste, so we get excited about the same things when we’re in the studio which is such a great feeling! It’s been such an amazing, intense process so far and I’m expecting that to carry on right through to the release and beyond. There’s folky bops, big production moments, a wide variety of textures and some terrifyingly vulnerable lyrics!

What else have you got planned for the year ahead?

I’m working on a music video currently which will be out alongside my first single, The Garden. Which came out on March 10th. The next single is coming on May 1st. I’ve got some exciting collaborations in the pipeline, but mainly am just focusing on this album. My energy is being channelled into performing with an ensemble I’m curating and making visuals that fit with what I’m trying to get across.

Follow boci on Instagram to keep up with what she’s up to.

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