It's two different brains: the mom brain that's, like, selfless and ego-free, and the on-stage 'Look at me. Like, listen to my song. Hope you like it.' There, it is all ego.
— Domino Kirke
My family realized I was going to do birth work and then music; they were like, 'What's a doula? This is not what you were meant to do!' And I was like, 'Everyone thinks they can only do one thing.'
I grew up in a family where my father was in a rock band, and I saw and heard every story.
I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be in that world. But I also understood that being a touring musician meant that you'd be gone a lot and that was going to make other things a lot harder, like having a family.
When I sing, I feel calm.
My dad was such a music fan that the only way to really hang out with him was to sit in a room and listen to music.
I try to wear a dress and heels when I want to make more of an effort and be a bit more feminine.
Though I always experimented with electronic music in the past, I wasn't invested in that sound. My heart has always been in folk. That's my home.
Big Thief is destined for greatness.
I grew up around a lot of artists and people passing through. I learned so much from them. I felt the safest with them - and the most endangered.
I grew up always around music through my father - I would play in music studios with him as I was growing up - and my high school, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts.
The idea of windows, that's so symbolic to me within labor. And I'm always opening windows during a birth. If someone's been in labor all night and they're exhausted and sort of over it, opening a window or drawing a curtain can change the game. And sometimes the doula is the first one to suggest it.
I was always interested in becoming a midwife. Then, at my own birth, I didn't get the support I'd hoped for, and that changed everything. That's why I became a doula. There's such a need.
I'm still a really shy performer and can't wear high heels and need to be with bare feet.
I got married, and it was a bit of a whirlwind I wasn't expecting for the next phase for Penn and I.
Mark Ronson was a dear friend through family and through growing up in New York, being in that scene, and Mark came to a show and really liked it and asked us to join his record label Allido records, or 'all I do' records, and that was sort of a development deal.
I didn't set out to write pop hits.
It's weird. I went so far away from music that I had to re-invent music again. I had to come back to music. I had to put music with an agenda down and at least write for my son, write to keep writing, but the idea of having a music career had to go away for a while.
I've just always loved babies, even when I was a baby.
I was always interested in midwifery; it was my plan B.
Music is everything.
I felt this pressure to just be the singer in my family or the musician in my family. But once I had my son, I was like, 'No, I can do all of it.'
In my family, it was always encouraged to become a creative person. I became a doula instead, then I married an actor, and my sisters became famous almost overnight.
People should listen to my music if they just want to know me better.
What I learned is that it's very hard to have both a family life and a touring life simultaneously.
'In Ear Park' perfectly encapsulates the beauty of youth for me.
Lipstick just makes me feel like I can't talk, like I am going to suffocate - like I've been locked in a cupboard and can't get out. I'm so aware of it.
I moved to the States from London when I was 12 years old. My father was in a band and wanted to tour, so we moved here, but it wasn't until I moved to Williamsburg and had my son that I felt like I finally belonged.
Growing up, I feel like my character was so much about being a problem-solver and a truth-seeker and always needing to get to the bottom of everything.
I'm not like, 'I'm a famous doula.' I'm a doula. I'm trying to find a way to get rid of the stigma around 'You're the singer; You're the actor' - we have to be able to do more than one thing.
I've always put out EPs because I had a kid and never had the time to tour and do what it takes to support a record.
I was sort of getting used to being a single mom, maybe a little too used to it.
I got to play with incredible musicians, but it happened really fast. I couldn't believe it was all happening, and so by the time I was, like 18, 19, I sort of took a break and was just like, 'I'm not ready for this.'
Being in a band was so fun and exciting, but I was just kind of focusing more on performance and wasn't really writing the songs - I didn't really think I had a voice.
The minute I had him, my son, I realized that I had to just time-manage in a way that I never had to before.
I just believe pregnant women need a familiar face, someone who isn't related to them who they may have all this emotional past with, to be there, just for them, during the birth.
I toured. I played, I was in that world so intensely, and then I had to bow out.
Listeners can expect to feel very relaxed during the listening experience of 'Beyond Waves.' The songs are very lyrical and extremely intimate, so I feel like you're going to need to be in a quiet room when you hear them, at least the first time.
I think when you come from a house full of artists, everyone's got their niche.
One of the expectations growing up was that I'd become a well-known artist.
The work I do when I'm not making music is very much about service, helping women give birth or aiding in family planning.
I have always been more of a truth-seeking person since I was quite young.
I had to learn to respect the relationship my son had with his father outside of the three of us.
I put on a little bit more makeup when I perform.
I had, like, four Sigur Ros records on my playlist when I was in labor.
Being a full-time musician back before I had my son, it was sort of too much 'me' all the time. I felt like a bit of a narcissist, always doing just my art - even though I feel like artists are doing a service as well. I needed something a little more literal, instead of writing music and hoping people enjoyed it.
My son's birth was pretty life-shattering, in good ways and bad ways. I realized that I needed a doula because I'm not close to my mom, and I don't have a lot of people in New York.
Penn and I want to write a record together.
No one listens to CDs anymore. Who even owns a CD? I used to bring my CDs to shows, and it was, like, a guarantee that everyone would buy one. Nope! Not anymore.
When I met Penn, he was an actor, but he wasn't working, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to go back to work, and I was kind of into that!
