"Occasionally you meet someone who oozes musicality. You know they will be great even before you experience their creativity. For me, GEoRGiA exists amongst that rare breed. Chances are she will enrich your life." – Dave Okumu, The Invisible
You only have to look to Zach Hill's bloodied hands to remember that drummers are always the coolest – and Georgia is another of that envy-inducing, stick-wielding posse. She's been beat-provider for Kwes, Kate Tempest and pop trio Juce – whose Kaya Kaya Records she worked with before being newly snapped up by Domino.
"I guess I wasn't your average girl," Georgia Barnes says, catching her breath from last-minute rehearsals, on the topic of her childhood. As a little girl she matched her passion for the drums (since the age of eight) with football – playing for QPR and Arsenal. While the sporting career she once craved never left the ground ("You have to go to America for women's [football]") the music path beckoned.
Now her dreams are of one day hitting sticks for Missy Elliott or Beyoncé. "[Bey] uses female drummers quite a bit – that's her thing – and I love them," she gushes. "Cora Dunham and Kim Thompson: they are the cream of the crop of female drumming."
But now we find her centre-stage, commanding her own solo project: a unique brand of soulful pop. "For a long time I had just been behind the kit, waiting for the right time to go for it. But it feels like now I'm ready," she nods enthusiastically.
Debut EP 'Come In' revealed a sharp skill for penning a pop tune – Joni Mitchell, Phil Spector and Ray Charles were all favourites as a teenager – with expertly skewed production, and the multi-instrumentalist inserts her own spectral vocals over the top.
The recently-revealed 'Move Systems' provides a taster for her debut album – arriving soon, and written, performed and produced by herself. But the looming performance – drumming for nominee Kate Tempest – is running riot round Georgia's mind as we speak. "I'm ill, too, which is great," she sighs. "I'm gonna be on a cocktail of booze and Ibuprofen…"
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WHERE: South London
WHAT: Dark pop, with her vocals riding the beats and the occasional rave touch.
GET 3 SONGS: 'Be Ache', 'Come In', 'Digits'.
FACT: She can do 100 keepy-uppies with a football.
Words: Felicity Martin
Photo Credit: Laura Coulson
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'Move Systems' will be released on May 25th.
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