Alison Barter is an Australian pop rock singer-songwriter. Her single "Girlie Bits" was listed on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2016. It was included on her debut album, A Suitable Girl, which peaked at No.17 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
Biography
Ali Barter was born in Melbourne in 1986. She was raised by an Irish Catholic father and a Buddhist mother. She spent her early years in Lae, Papua New Guinea, where her father worked. The family moved to Cairns before returning to Melbourne where she attended a Methodist secondary school. Barter was trained as a classical vocalist and spent eight years singing in the Australian Girls Choir. She left music, at about 14 to 16, and became a self-proclaimed 'rat bag': "I was just naughty. Drinking/partying too much and too often, behaving badly... just bummed around being a pest. Not contributing!" Her father unexpectedly died when she was 24. Barter returned to music soon after, and began writing and releasing music independently. Barter issued her debut extended play, Trip, in August 2012. It was recorded and produced in Melbourne by local beat-maker Matik. It provided the single "Run You Down", which was co-written by Barter and Stephen Mowat. She was a 2013 Triple J Unearthed winner, earning a spot on the line-up at St Jerome's Laneway Festival in that year. She followed with support slots for Vance Joy, Cloud Control and the Rubens. Late in 2013 her second EP, Community, was released, which was produced by Oscar Dawson. She toured with the War on Drugs. Barter's third EP, AB EP, was released on 4 September 2015. It was recorded at the Aviary, Abbotsford with Dawson producing and co-writing. It provided the single "Hypercolour", with its music video, directed by Rhys Mitchell, being premiered on NPR. Barter appeared in ABC1's TV mini-series The Beautiful Lie, a modern adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. In April 2016 Barter performed on triple j's weekly Like a Version segment, where she covered Tame Impala's track "'Cause I'm a Man". She released two singles in that year — "Far Away" in January and "Girlie Bits" in August. Both were quickly added to high rotation on national youth broadcaster triple j. She was also invited by triple j to perform at the Unearthed 10-year anniversary show in November, where she was joined onstage by Melbourne musician Ecca Vandal for a special performance of "Girlie Bits". In 2016, Barter also toured in support of the Rubens, City Calm Down and the Jezabels and held her single launches in Sydney and Brisbane. In mid-2016 inspired by her experiences while studying 20th century music history at a university in Melbourne, she posted on her Facebook page "about how under-represented women were in the course material." She was called to a meeting: "We had a horrendous chat and they hounded me to take down the post. I had so much anxiety going to class that I stopped going." In December of that year Barter penned an op-ed, "It’s About Fucking Time We Gave Female Musicians the Credit They Deserve" for Australian media website Junkee. She discussed the importance of including women in music history. The piece garnered a number of responses, including one from Yoko Ono, who re-tweeted the article. Barter released her debut album, A Suitable Girl, in March 2017, independently on Ronnie Records via Inertia Music. It peaked at No. 17 on the ARIA Albums Chart. In February of the following year she performed at the Melbourne Zoo, for its Twilights Season, which Giselle Bueti of The AU Review praised: "There is something compelling about her stage presence, a certain awkward charm. The powerful chords mixed with delicate harmonises make for sweet listening. It's like biting into a sour lolly – that initial punch is quickly followed by sugary bliss, making your mouth water and plead for more." In March 2020, Australian radio stationTriple J premiered a new song by Barter in collaboration with Oscar Dawson titled "Four Days", as part of a COVID-19 self-isolation musical challenge nicknamed Quarantune.
In 2013 Barter began working with fellow Australian musician Oscar Dawson, as a song writing and musical collaboration. Dawson was her producer for her latter two EPs and debut album. Barter and Dawson married in early 2016. The couple run a small independent label, Ronnie Records, which issued Barter's material; as well as by fellow musicians Ben Wright Smith and Miles De Carteret. She has often visited India and has expressed a desire to live there.
