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Private words, public emotions: performing confession in indie music

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2018

Ariana Phillips-Hutton
Ariana Phillips-Hutton*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK E-mail: asp38@cam.ac.uk
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Abstract

This essay examines the work of singer-songwriter William Fitzsimmons as an example of how confessional performance is constructed within indie music. I contend that both audiences and artists participate in a discourse that draws on narratives of personal communication, intimacy and authenticity in order to create a distinctively confessional aesthetic. This aesthetic orientation is then reflected in performances that are framed as autobiographical and truth-telling. After surveying aspects of indie music that contribute to the formation of this aesthetic, I trace the implications of performed confession through an exploration of the sonic, visual and relational characteristics of Fitzsimmons's performances from his 2008 album The Sparrow and the Crow. By examining how artist and audience construct the confessional, I suggest a new perspective on how the confessional trope operates in indie music.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , October 2018 , pp. 329 - 350
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Discography

Fitzsimmons, W. Goodnight. CD. William Fitzsimmons Music. 2006Google Scholar
Fitzsimmons, W. The Sparrow and the Crow. CD. Dark Sparrow Records. 2008Google Scholar
Fitzsimmons, W. Lions. CD. Nettwerk Productions. 2014Google Scholar