When I first met Domino we were in Williamsburg in a hotel lobby restaurant. It was sometime in the middle of winter and I remember her walking in all rugged up in a vintage worker onesie with scarves wrapped around her head and neck. We were wearing the same matching Blundstone boots. The moment she sat down it felt like we had known each other forever. It was like she saw right into my soul and knew my inner child so well. Her eyes welled up as she talked about the passing of her dog and I knew right away we would be deep friends.

It's rare to meet someone who isn’t afraid to be raw and vulnerable, but who also carries grace and lightness, is effortlessly cool AND has a well rounded and integrated sense of spirit. As I got to know her story better I came to understand she was not only a singer and mother, but also a doula, something I have been very interested in learning more about for a very long time. We got right to talking about the deep stuff: the juice of life, the joys, the traumas, relationship dynamics, music, love, fear, birth and death. In the ebb and flow of life, and maintaining a friendship across an ocean, I would receive messages from her out of the blue, intuitively checking in, often when I was moving through something emotional. Some women you meet are like gentle but fierce lightning bolts that light parts of your soul on fire and give you permission to be brave and wild and free. It seemed perfectly fitting to spend the morning, once again, in Williamsburg, a place that is so sketched into her skin, and take these photos!

– Indigo Sparke (Our friend and muse! Read her Journal feature here!)

Domino is, as Indigo so perfectly articulated, a woman of multitudes. A doula, co-founder and director of Carriage House Birth (a foundation dedicated to offering education and support for parents-to-be and the doulas who support them), a Reiki practitioner, a soulful musician, and so much more, her passions extend far and wide. Curious about the emotional resonance that music has in her life, we asked Domino to share a few of the songs that have held a particularly special significance for her. See below for a few of the tunes she holds most dear.

Like a Ship (Without a Sail) by T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir // This was the song I played for my guests right after I got married. It was the icebreaker. It’s about hope, and it’s really so joyous. Marriage was always a very scary idea for me. I mean who’s really had great examples of it in their lives? This song makes everything RIGHT.

Harvest Moon by Cassandra Wilson // Her version of this song makes my heart sing! There are VERY few people who can pull this off. It’s the cover of covers. Dare I say I like it better than the original?!

Thank You Master (For My Soul) by Donny Hathaway // This song is PURE LIGHT. It’s perfection. It sends me into a state that is so high that if I’m listening to it in the car, I have to pull over.

Song to the Siren by This Mortal Coil // My friend Caroline Polachek sang me down the aisle with this version. I was always a sucker for the Tim Buckley version, but I’m forever changed since Caroline’s take on the This Mortal Coil cover. It’s about the death of self... a little morbid for marriage? Or is it?

Unknown Legend by Neil Young // My first love would sing this to me all the time. He played that record nonstop. He passed away 8 years ago. I hear the song and it brings him back to me, instantly.

– Domino Kirke