Franco-American Barbara Forstner spent twelve years in New York before settling in France. From her transatlantic journey, she retains a passion for American folk and country music, which she combines with sensitive and inspired songwriting.

After a first EP with her band October Baby (The End, released in June 2024) and a highly acclaimed album, Nowhere at All, released in November of the same year, the singer quickly attracted the attention of media outlets such as France Inter, FIP and Rolling Stone. She is now back with her first solo album, Long Long Gone, due for release on 28 November 2025.

Barbara draws inspiration for her songs from literature and cinema, composing deeply personal stories that reflect her vision of the world and human relationships. The story begins in New York when she was fourteen. Her mother brought home a guitar, intended for her own lessons. However, it was Barbara who took it up: her poems became lyrics, and her first chords – simple, almost rudimentary – laid the foundations for a working method that she still uses today. Her songs, with their highly cinematic atmosphere, invite listeners to enter her world.

Raised in an artistic environment, Barbara grew up listening to her parents’ records: Bob Dylan, Sixto Rodriguez and Tom Waits on her father’s side; Barry White, Al Green and Simple Minds on her mother’s side. Very early on, she forged her own musical pantheon, ranging from Nick Drake to Cat Power, from Feist to Big Thief.

Her first stage experience came at the age of nine, at Rockwood Music Hall in New York, where she performed “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes. Overwhelmed by conflicting emotions, she left the stage in tears. But this moment became a revelation: singing meant being understood and listened to. From then on, the stage became a necessity. She tamed this vulnerability, which she eventually came to see as a strength, and began performing more and more concerts. From Rockwood to La Cigale, from the British End of the Road festival to opening for artists such as Charlie Winston, Barbara asserted herself.

Now based in Paris, she records in her home studio, favouring spontaneity. Each track on Long Long Gone was recorded in a single take to preserve the truth of the moment. She also pays close attention to the visual aspect of her world, creating her own visuals from drawings, photographs and graphic collages.

Recorded in June 2025 in Paris with her friend and sound engineer Léo Aubry, Long Long Gone is an acoustic album, raw and vulnerable. Barbara tackles friendship, love and family, but also the fragile beauty and melancholy of the world. Written between New York and Paris, the album explores lost love, eroding friendships, life abroad and fleeting encounters. Bittersweet and luminous at the same time, it suspends time, carried by a warm voice and lyrics of disarming sincerity.