Moving past Language Barrier

Nirantha Balagopal plays her final show as Language Barrier in Lakewood, CO., on Saturday, May 11, 2024. (Photo by Nic Cogdall)

Hi all,

This mini-episode of the Loops Podcast is about seeing endings as new beginnings. It’s about (and for) my dear friend Nirantha Balagopal, who last month played one last show as Language Barrier, a lo-fi pop project she started nine years ago in Phoenix.

I met her before that, serendipitously, at a leadership camp for high-school sophomores started by an actor who played Wyatt Earp on TV in the ‘50s. She was one of the returning counselors. (I was one of the many high-school sophomores.) I can’t say I remember speaking with her much, but you could say we came out of it as friends. Even if I wouldn’t see her again for more than a decade, after I had moved to Denver.

We were both living in Phoenix when she started Language Barrier as part of the inaugural Indy 500 fest put on by all-ages music venue Trunk Space in 2015. With Trunk Space volunteer Crystal Burnett on bass and cello and Allie Long, a mutual friend of ours, on vocals, she formed her band.

Language Barrier playing their first show at the Trunk Space’s Indy 500 in April 2014. L-R: Nirantha Balagopal, Crystal Burnett, and Allie Long.

Where was I during all of this? Making new friends in college, I suppose. Despite our circles aligning, we never reconnected in Phoenix.

Balagopal, now 33, said she had plans to play a final Language Barrier show four years ago. This conceptual death was deferred by the pandemic and her move to Denver. She got married and, last year, became a mother. (Along the way, she introduced me to the lead singer of band she was playing bass for, who is now my wife. Like I said, serendipitous.)

“I kind of kept [Language Barrier] on life support, played a few shows,” she said after her funeral gig. “I felt like I never got that closure event that I envisioned four years ago.”

Last month, with a little help from Long and other artist friends from Arizona, Language Barrier was finally laid to rest. It was a candlelit, rainy, all-black DIY funeral. For Balagopal, it felt like the shedding of a past self and an opportunity to express who she is today.

“We're all always in a place of transition, but it feels particularly acute right now,” she said. “I'm trying to embrace it. So you know what, if we're in transition, we're in transition. Let's go. Let's get rid of these old songs. Let's figure out who I am now.”

Check out my audio collage from the final Language Barrier show on the Loops Podcast, now available on Spotify, Apple, YouTube — and right here on Substack.

Full bill for the Language Barrier funeral show.