Pictoria Vark is the spoonerism alias of bassist, vocalist, and all-around badass Victoria Park, who has been making music in Iowa City for the past few years between tours as the bassist of Squirrel Flower. Sonically, Victoria’s music is full, luscious, and bright, while lyrically it tends to lean into the bare-it-all, deeply personal style of indie rock that can at times be punishingly relatable. Her debut album, The Parts I Dread, was released in April on Get Better Records and we had the privilege of talking with her about it.
Hi, Victoria! How’s it going? How has touring and the release of The Parts I Dread been so far?
Hey there! It’s going well—currently sending this from the van as we wait for the ferry to go to Victoria, BC today! Super rainy but feels comfy to just sit and listen to the rain on the window. Release has felt super unreal—I can’t believe it’s happening and just trying to take it all in.
What have you been listening to on tour so far?
Sheryl Crow, The Ophelias, The xx, and Dean Blunt.
Something that caught me in the very first song, “Twin,” was the Mountain Goats reference; it’s so awesome. What’s your favorite Mountain Goats release, and why? Are there any other Easter egg references listeners can find on The Parts I Dread that you’re okay pointing out?
I’m so glad people are picking up on that! My favorite Mountain Goats record is All Hail West Texas; Something about all of those songs feels like coming home, and I can’t believe John Darnielle wrote that album so quickly. It’s truly a breathtaking one. There’s a sample hidden in the mix of the second chorus of the double chorus in “Wyoming” (but I won’t say what or who!) and some Easter eggs on my cover of “Nothing Feels Good” by The Promise Ring, the second bonus track on Bandcamp.
Something that’s really wonderful about songs like “Twin” and “Friend Song” on this album is that you know exactly how much space to give them, keeping them pretty bare bones, but they’re never lacking anything. What are some tools you use to get that fullness in your sound?
Thank you so much! With both of those songs, there are actually a surprising amount of layers. “Twin” has a total of 25 guitars, but they are rarely going all at once. “Friend Song” uses slide guitar, a rhodes mic’d far away, and cityscape sounds to subtly build the song’s dynamics.
Pictoria Vark is primarily considered your solo project, right? You write the songs, but mainly play bass and sing obviously. When it comes to the drums, keys, and guitar, do you have a specific process for writing those parts?
Once these songs were finished in a solo bass and vocal capacity, I took them to my close friends Gavin Caine (co-production, drums, keys) and Jason Ross (guitar) to arrange with me. We’ve been playing together for over 10 years and have built a lot of trust and communication, which helps these songs sound like they do and how I want them to!
Do you usually come up with lyrics or music first? And how does the process for writing a song look for you after that first moment?
For this record, I would be writing lyrics and bass parts separately and mixing and matching to see what lyrics fit with what bass parts. From there, I would write melodies and tweak chords, add parts, change structure, etc. I do want to try approaching writing differently for the next record and see what happens.
What is an instrument you would really like to have under your belt one day?
Been thinking about buying an autoharp or a saxophone for the next record to mess around with.
What is the audio we hear in the middle of “Friend Song”?
We call it the “friend collage,” and it’s a mix of different audio clips from old videos of me and my friends hanging out over the years. We panned them all around to make it sound like a party! Very special to me—you can hear me yelling “Happy Birthday, Jason!!” which was one of the last times I saw my bandmates before the pandemic started.
There is so much poured into every song on the record, and every one serves the overall arc of it very well. Was there one song from the record that you were most excited for people to hear?
Thank you so much! Truly means the whole world. I’m really excited for people to hear “Out” but won’t spoil why.
Something a lot of the record does a really great job of doing is getting up close and personal with your emotions. Was there a song you feel most vulnerable having people hear?
The funny thing is, kind of like my Twitter account, I actually don’t feel uncomfortable with strangers hearing any of these songs, especially since a lot of them are years old at this point. But definitely nervous for my parents to hear them, but they have been really supportive and into the music.
Watch the video for “Wyoming” here:
For more from Pictoria Vark, find her on Twitter and Instagram.
Photo courtesy of Meanz Chan
