Karima Walker

An artist who has worked in the fields of film, photography, writing, dance, and sculpture in addition to music, Karima Walker self-released her first EP, A Good Year, in 2012. She expanded upon the intimate, sometimes eerie, country-inflected acoustic songs on future recordings without losing her hushed, poetic sensibility. First full-length Hands in Our Names, issued in 2017, added decidedly experimental touches, with layered synths, field recordings, and tape loops interacting with structured folk on a mix of songs and instrumentals. Her second album, 2021′s Waking the Dreaming Body, followed suit, employing instruments, electronics, and impressionistic lyrics to capture the fluidity between outer and inner worlds as well as the conscious and subconscious mind.
Born to a Tunisian mother who left the family behind in California to work abroad as a singer when her daughter was very young, Karima Walker grew up mostly in the desert of Tucson, Arizona, whose imagery features heavily in her lyrics. She eventually left Tucson to travel and go to school. She later taught philosophy and became a multidisciplinary artist, writing creative nonfiction and working as a videographer and photographer, among other endeavors in the arts. Walker recorded her self-released debut EP, A Good Year, in Chicago in 2012 before returning to Tucson. While it consisted of solo acoustic guitar songs, she expanded instrumentation for 2015′s still folk-minded Take Your Time EP. It was released on Diet Pop Records that March.
While always atmospheric and artful, Walker’s music took an experimental turn with her next release, the full-length Hands in Our Names. Issued on Orindal Records in March 2017, it involved sound experiments with components like synthesizers, field recordings, phone and tape recordings, and transferring analog tracks to digital and back again. Still based in song, it was followed by a collaborative EP with Nashville-based singer/songwriter Katy Kirby, Among Horses V, part of a series by Catalonian label Son Canciones. Performed, produced, and engineered by Walker alone (with the exception of upright bass by C.J. Boyd on one track), Walker’s second full-length, Waking the Dreaming Body, was released jointly by Orindal and Keeled Scales in 2021. ~ Marcy Donelson