June McDoom
The Naturalist
words by Zachary Weg
image by BellaNewman
It's the voice. An angelic whisper is the voice that has astounded audiences over the past two years and belongs to June McDoom, perhaps the brightest star in New York City's burgeoning independent music scene. In the midst of recording her debut LP, the twenty-seven-year-old folk musician sits on a bench in Greenpoint's Transmitter Park, peering at Manhattan across the river. A few nights prior, she opened for Jessica Pratt at Bowery Ballroom and entranced the room with her blend of folk and electronica. To date, McDoom has released her debut single, "The City," her self-titled first EP, string renditions of some of her tracks, and two covers. Yet even if she only released, "The City," her talent would still shine through.
A beguiling folk song that relays McDoom's journey towards love, "The City" revealed the artist's enchanting voice and sterling songcraft when she released it in the summer of 2022. Replete with guitar strums, dreamy production, and such lines as, "Get the next bus out of town,/Orange sunrise in my eyes,/I arise with you," the song seemed to announce an artist fully formed.
It makes sense for an individual who's been around music since childhood. "Maybe when I was in middle school, I realized that I kind of had a nice voice," McDoom says. "And then, when I got into high school, I didn't really have a music community around me and I was looking for something to do in the summer. So I went to a music program at a music college, and that kind of changed everything because I realized that you can study music and pursue music as a career."
McDoom is hardly a careerist, however. "I feel like the career side of it is the worst part," she says with a laugh. "At the same time, I'm so grateful that I can have the chance to explore making music, grow with it, and try to form my life around it, or live. But I would say the whole reason I'm making music is that I really want to see how I grow and what I can contribute to the history of music. Most of the music I listen to is old music, a lot of the artists are not very well-known, and I feel like they're so impactful in my life."
McDoom continues, "My whole purpose, I feel like, is to just see where I can go and what I can create, and that's the biggest thing that drives me. But also to not let music completely overpower my life to the point where it's like I can't think about anything else."
Shortly after sharing "The City," the musician released June McDoom, a mesmerizing EP that ranks as one of the most memorable debuts in recent memory. Comprised of five electronica-dipped folk songs, the album highlights not only McDoom's voice but also her impressive songwriting. On the opener, "Babe, You Light Me Up," over spindly guitar lines, McDoom sings, "Underneath the sky and the moon,/There's nowhere I'd rather be with you,/The shimmer in your eyes,/Has spread into my life." It's a love song, but McDoom never uses the word "love." Instead, like all gifted songwriters, McDoom uses details to depict the broader theme.
All of June McDoom, in fact, can be heard as a love suite. They are songs that show love in all its messiness, pleasure, and pain. "I've been reading this Zora Neale Hurston book, and it's been really helpful actually because I feel like a lot of my writing is about how life is kind of hard and insane," McDoom says. "And her books are kind of about that and the Black experience. But she uses a lot of nature as a metaphor for hard experiences."
McDoom uses the same technique. "So I cry to you,/And it all poured out,/Then I see myself,/Form like a cloud,/I build myself up again,/Stone after stone," she sings on, "Stone After Stone," and it's as if she's one with nature. This kinship continues closer, "By June," as she sings, "I can't even fathom life,/Without your hand in mine,/Memories, passion, dreams,/Planted in the soil sweetly."
Such tender lyrics, and masterful musicianship, have garnered McDoom several fans, ranging from Nick Hakim and Helado Negro to Brittany Howard and Pratt (all of whom she's opened for).
But McDoom is focused on the music itself. Readying her debut LP, she's "just curious" about what she "can make," as she says. Leaving Transmitter Park and heading back to the studio, she's poised to stun the city.