by Brittney Corridean
The arts came easy to Patty Larkin and this became relevant to her at a very young age. As a singer/songwriter, her music comes from the emotions and experiences she has out of life. After a while of experimenting and growing as an artist, her music began to take on its own form and was an intimate example of her life; from beauty to tribulation.
Larkin is the keynoter and featured performer at the SS Cape May Singer/Songwriter conference this Friday. She will have a lot to say about art, life and music.
Her most recent album, Still Green, draws in influence from the past as well as the present and she believes both are necessary to incorporate to truly identify and write music. “The songs on Still Green are melodically driven, and they come out of my love for the songwriters of the 70s, including Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Nick Drake, Richard Thompson and more. The lyric content came out of my life experiences,” states Larkin, “so the subject matter was more emotionally driven for me than I had originally expected.”
Being on tour recently has been such a positive experience; Larkin thrives off of her conversations and interactions with fans and other performers. She truly feels her fans are some of the most inspiring people. “I have been very pleased with the shows I’ve done over the last year. I enjoy performing, and the response has been good. I have had many beautiful conversations with audience folk on the road, so I think opening up the heart is a good thing. I’ve seen some remarkable places and faces.”
Music for Larkin is simply a way of life; the center of her being. This is evident in her stage presence and deep personal connections to her lyrics. Over the years, she has grown more and more comfortable opening up and expressing herself as artist. Collaborating and finding the adventure in new sound is detrimental to her creative process.
“I think the thing about any kind of writing is that it becomes your journal. So I remember where I was and what I was feeling when I wrote “So Cold” and “Bon Vivants”. Both songs were difficult for me to relearn and record because they brought back such an emotionally charged time. Both songs poured out as a release/relief from the sadness and frustration of all that is involved in being a witness to pain.”
Currently, she teaches at Berkeley and is enthralled by and challenged by putting her creativity to work and creating new music. “This semester my class is on performance,” she says. “I will probably talk about melodic writing and simplifying lyrics to reflect the sense of the music”
For attendees of the 8th annual Singer Songwriter of Cape May, Larkin will be in the historic Congress Hall at 8pm. The most meaningful parts of these conferences for Larkin are networking, meeting other artists and just feeling inspired. She does tend to write alone and perform alone, but you get to experience so many others doing the same kind of thing. “Conferences are a great networking opportunity and a chance to hear new performers. They’re like a working music festival,” she says.
Larkin feels it’s a great opportunity for artists and writers to get together and release the inner artistry in one another. Hopefully everyone will be able to take something home with them-regardless of what it is, just feel touch or opened up in some kind of way.
As far as recent projects for Larkin, she’s been dabbling in an instrumental record for now and hoping to start producing music for a dance company soon. However, in the very near future she plans to take a short vacation to the Caribbean to mellow out and rejuvenate. Bring on the flip flops!
