As the boundaries of alternative music continue to blur, Tarric enters the conversation with “Untied,” a track that resists the superficial polish of the moment in favor of something more deliberate and inward-looking. Drawn from his upcoming album, Method, the song captures the quiet unraveling that follows emotional fallout, using restrained production and tightly constructed lyrics to mirror the tension between memory and detachment. With references that stretch from Led Zeppelin to Wet Leg, Tarric’s musical trajectory is shaped as much by introspection as by influence—offering a case study in how emerging artists can still carve out meaningful space in a saturated digital era.
Let’s dive in and explore more about Tarric.
Which artists shaped your musical journey growing up, and which contemporary artists do you find yourself drawing inspiration from today?
I would say anyone from Led Zeppelin to The Smiths to The Killers. As for modern music, I really enjoyed Wet Leg’s debut album, and Eevah and South Arcade are doing some great stuff. I also think Sleep Token has developed a fresh sound and might single-handedly bring rock back to the mainstream.
Method is an intriguing title for your upcoming album. What’s the story behind choosing that name, and how does it reflect the collection of songs you’ve created?
My first album was about relationships, both failed and successful, where each song was about a different relationship. ‘Method’ is about dealing with the aftermath of those relationships. The methods by which I dealt with the emotional fallout are pretty well documented here. It’s truly a snapshot of what was going on at that time.
Your career has been gaining momentum since “I Had It Wrong” charted on alternative radio. How has your approach to songwriting evolved since those earlier days?
I’d really like to think so. I have really labored over the lyrics in particular more to make sure I’m creating something that will really mean something to me and hopefully the people that listen to them. I have a song called “Born to Go” on this album about the death of a loved one, and I really tried to nail down all the thoughts that were going through my head and how I dealt with them. It took some digging and vulnerability to bring that to bear.
As an artist breaking through in 2025, what do you find most challenging about navigating today’s music industry?
I think the fact that the landscape is constantly changing means no one really knows what they’re doing. How does one appease the algorithm? What are audiences really being drawn to? How does the business of music work now? Ultimately, you want to share your music with people, and doing so is incredibly difficult when Spotify is putting out, at last count, around 100,000 songs a day. How does one not drown in that ocean?
“Untied” explores the complexity of letting go. Was there a specific experience that inspired this song, or is it a composite of different emotional moments?
It was pretty specific in this case. There comes a point in any friendship or relationship when you figure out that nothing is going to get better—either it’s the chemistry between the two of you or that neither one of you is willing to change. Learning to let go of these long-term relationships is really difficult, even though both parties may be suffering. Combine that with a long shared history with important life milestones together, and letting go becomes really painful.
The line “The echoes of you still run so true in my mind” really stands out. Can you talk about what this imagery means to you and how it connects to the overall theme of the song?
It’s interesting to me that some of our memories are just faded whispers while some are incredibly vivid and visceral. Have you ever remembered something cringe-worthy that you did and felt that twist in your stomach? That’s a physically visceral memory to me. The lyric “the echoes of you still run so true in my mind” is about the recurring images that bounce around in your chest and feel like they just happened yesterday—sometimes they’re good, and a lot of times they’re bad, unfortunately. I think the bad experiences resonate so much because it’s our heart’s way of saying, let’s not do that again.
There’s a beautiful tension in “Untied” between feeling lost and finding freedom. Was capturing that duality something you consciously aimed for?
Definitely, and thank you for noticing. I tried to use the verses to explore the moments of feeling untied and lost within the relationship, where the chorus is meant to feel like a breakthrough—a realization that there’s freedom in diagnosing the past experience and then moving on from it.
The production on “Untied” creates this atmospheric space that complements the lyrics perfectly. What was the studio process like for bringing this track to life?
Thank you very much. We purposely panned the instruments and voice toward the center to make it feel more confined and capture the feeling of being insular and lost. When the chorus comes in, we actually panned all the music out so that it had a feeling of more space and hopefully more freedom. We also tried to add in more high-end frequencies like cymbals and synths so that the chorus felt more “enlightened.” Not to sound too kookoo.
“Untied” ends with a sense of acceptance rather than resolution. As you look at the journey from writing to releasing this song, has your own relationship with its meaning changed at all?
You’re absolutely right, and I’m so glad that you recognized that. Sometimes, there is not going to be a satisfying resolution. Sometimes, all you can hope for is that you accept what has happened and just move on. I suppose I’m always trying to figure out how to do this with different experiences and different people. It’s an important part of the human experience. I just wish it was always pleasant.
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