Ali Barter

Barter was born in Melbourne, Australia, but spent her early years living in Papua New Guinea, where her father found work. She then moved with her family to Cairns, in far north Australia, before returning to Melbourne where she began high-school.

A classically trained vocalist, she spent her teenage years singing in the Australian Girls Choir, before leaving music to spend her early twenties living as a self-proclaimed ‘rat bag’. She returned to music in her mid-twenties, when she began writing and releasing music independently within Australia.

Barter initially found success following the release of her debut EP, entitled Trip, in September 2012. Recorded and produced in Melbourne by local beat-maker Matik, it featured the single "Run You Down". Ali Barter was a 2013 Triple J Unearthed winner, earning her a spot on the lineup for the annual St Jerome's Laneway Festival of that year. She followed this with support slots for Vance Joy, Cloud Control and The Rubens.

In 2014, Barter began working with collaborator and musical partner Oscar Dawson (Holy Holy). Later in that year, her sophomore EP Community was released. She also toured with The War on Drugs.

Barter's third EP, entitled AB EP, was released in 2015. Again produced by Dawson, this release was led by single "Hypercolour". The music video for the song, directed by Rhys Mitchell, premiered exclusively on NPR. Ali also appeared in ABC1's 2015 mini-series The Beautiful Lie, a modern adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

Ali Barter released two singles in 2016—"Far Away" in January and "Girlie Bits" in August. Both were quickly added to high rotation on national youth broadcaster triple j. She was also invited by triple j to perform at the Unearthed 10 year anniversary show in November, where she was joined onstage by Melbourne musician Ecca Vandal for a special performance of "Girlie Bits". In 2016, Barter also toured The Rubens, City Calm Down and The Jezabels and held sold-out single launches in Sydney and Brisbane.

During this time, and inspired by her experiences studying music at a university in Melbourne, Barter penned an op-ed piece for Australian media website Junkee in December 2016 about the importance of including women in music history. The piece garnered a large response, including from Yoko Ono, who personally retweeted the article.

Barter runs a small independent label called Ronnie Records with Oscar Dawson, featuring herself alongside musicians Ben Wright Smith and Miles De Carteret. She is set to release her debut album in 2017 independently on Ronnie Records via Inertia Music.

In April 2016, Ali Barter was featured on triple j's weekl Like a Version segment, where she covered Tame Impala's track "'Cause I'm a Man".

In January 2017, "Girlie Bits" was voted in at number 58 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2016.

In early 2016, Barter married her long-term musical collaborator and partner, Oscar Dawson.

She enjoys spending time in India.