No losing with CLAUDIO
The latest single from acclaimed artistic alchemist CLAUDIO has released her brand new track. ‘Losing You’ is a lavish art pop wonderland glazed with RnB arrangements and tackles the themes of self-sabotage and the subconscious. With the track’s award winning and mesmerising music video, CLAUDIO is proving why she is one of the country’s best kept secrets. MFA got the chance to ask CLAUDIO about ‘Losing You’, the unique ‘Sounds of Sunset’ concert series she has created and the importance of having the right people working on your music.
Thanks for having me! <3
For those that haven’t heard your music before, how do you describe the Claudio sound?
I think of it as a kind of cinematic art-pop. Pop sensibility suspended in a dreamscape. Someone said recently, “Kate Bush meets James Blake” , to which I may have died, I loved it a lot.
You have just released 'Losing You', tell us about the new song? What does the song mean to you?
This one feels like the most personal to date in terms of writing. I also feel like it’s my greatest sonic achievement.
Anyone who knows me knows that I believe there’s always a danger in recording a song (as opposed to just playing & singing it forever on a guitar or piano). It so often gets ruined in trying to immortalise it in a recorded /produced form. So many things can get lost in the translation from the way you know it’s supposed to feel. All music artists know this struggle. Most of us have had many a song ruined that way haha.. This one, I am so proud to say, sounds exactly as it’s supposed to. It’s just the best feeling.
“The BTS footage was pretty painful to watch, it is so impressive what Rose will do for art, I have so much admiration for it… !”
'Losing You' has an accompanying video, which won the Best Music Video award at the Rome, Berlin and NYC International Film Festivals. Who came up with the concept for the video? Were there any memorable moments during the making of it?
It began as a collaboration between Aneka Manners & Zoe Coldham (co-directors), Rose Alice (ballet dancer) & myself. We all came up with the initial concept over Zoom. It was recorded in icy cold London during COVID (so I couldn’t be there unfortunately! :)) The BTS footage was pretty painful to watch, it is so impressive what Rose will do for art, I have so much admiration for it… !
From those images, I asked my long-time collaborator visual artist friend Martins Dabolins to re-imagine it all .. I said “it needs to feel expansive, surreal, fragmented” The video is a metaphor for the subconscious mind. (Following the idea that at least 95% of our decisions are driven by the subconscious, regardless of how “in control” we think we are)
Can fans look forward to an album being released soon?
Yes! I’ll be putting out two more singles in the realm of “Losing You” as they deal with the same chapter of my life & it all deserves to be explored until it’s finally processed.
There’s also a soundtrack coming out that I made for this amazing West Australian theatre company (The Last Great Hunt) called “Whistleblower” A David Lynch-inspired palette with echoes of “Tron”
“Everything stems from my relationship with that piano”
You have had an interest in music since you were 6 years old. What inspired you at such an early age?
The greatest blessing of my whole life was the arrival of a piano in my family home. (I wrote that like it just suddenly appeared one day - which is kinda how it felt to my 6 year old self!) From the moment I first played a D minor chord, I was entranced. I’d lock myself in that room for hours & hours at a time, for years. It was utter sanctuary. Music has always felt like my deepest, most trusted relationship. Everything stems from my relationship with that piano.
You describe yourself as a "sonic scientist", can you explain what you mean by this? How did you come up with this label?
It’s just a way to express the fact that my whole recording career is really just an experiment in sound. I’m wholly motivated by how what goes with what and to what end. In this way, Inspiration is really just hypothesis - meaning - an idea you can test. When I look at anything I make as just a snapshot of a Feeling I’m experimenting in using sound, it’s much easier to find a finishing point, let it go & give it to the world. Otherwise, like many artists, I’d be imprisoned by perfectionism & nothing would ever get released.
You write, record, produce and perform all your music. Do you like having full control of your music's destiny or do you find other people just don't understand your vision so it is through necessity that you take on all the roles?
It started as the latter, for sure. The essences of too many songs getting lost in the production process, because I couldn’t explain to anyone in their sonic language how it was supposed to feel. Now it’s just easier & quicker because I’ve been doing it alone for so long. Becoming fluent in my own sonic language has been the single most liberating aspect of my life. I wish that autonomy to anyone who has a clear creative vision. There is nothing in this world like the satisfaction of having gotten the inspiration out intact.
What does the writing /creative process look like for you?
Lots of incoherent note-writing. A phrase turning over & over in my head, not letting me sleep.
Once the mic is set up, I try to be in a state of “receptivity”.. Just allowing for ideas to come rushing in but making sure my fingers are active on the controllers the whole time so I don’t miss anything.
“I make the very best music I can - meaning - the truest music I can”
Doing everything yourself, does this add an extra layer of pride with each success, or in some cases disappointment if a song is not received as well as you had hoped?
The time we live in - where possibilities are so limitless and there is also so much noise - means that if you can’t let go of the outcome, you’ll spend far more time being disappointed than not. The things you least expect get lots of traction, others not as much. I really want to spend as much time feeling as fulfilled as I can. I can’t be fulfilled if I’m relying on an external outcome. So I make the very best music I can - meaning - the truest music I can.. If it reaches lots of people, that is the most beautiful, lovely bonus. At this point, I feel peaceful with the fact that although I can take steps to create support for my music, how far it reaches is largely out of my control.
Who do you credit as your musical influences?
Jill Scott, all 90s rnb, Bilal, Dwele, James Blake, Labrinth, Hans Zimmer, Jimi Hendrix, so many.
Where was your first gig? How did it go?
My first gig was a very very long time ago when I was about 14. Outdoors somewhere. My foot was shaking on the piano pedal. I didn’t get much satisfaction from the first couple of years of performing - I couldn’t get over the nerves for my voice to sound right. To anyone starting out I would say, “Please allow time to sound a bit shit for a while - it is so normal - basically a rite of passage”:)
If you weren’t a musician what else would you be doing now?
Martial artist.
“The shows that are an “experience” equally for myself & others are the thing that has my heart”
What’s been the highlight in your career so far personally? And why?
Opening for Ableton’s Loop conference in Berlin some years back was amazing. An audience full of creatives I deeply respect. The TEDx talk is hard not to mention, it’s such a timeless thing. But very recently I did a series of improvised shows called “Sounds of Sunset” in Fremantle (WA) where my back was to the audience & I scored the sunset. It was absolutely magical. Everyone was so connected & felt the reverence of the whole thing. More than ever, the shows that are an “experience” equally for myself & others are the thing that has my heart.
Who in your crew or team deserves a shout out but never gets one? And what is it they do that keeps your world turning?
My sound engineer Mark McEwan. He is a band member to me. He is one of those incredibly rare sound engineers whose knowledge of “good engineering” is rivalled only by his emotional capacity to really get where the music is supposed to go. The role of the engineer is so undervalued in the industry & I just don’t get it. Your track will belong to an entirely different genre if engineered by the wrong person. The wrong engineer will buff out everything good about a song trying to make it sound clear. Or you’ll have emotion with no clarity & it will sound like it belongs to a different decade, but not by choice. The variables of what can go wrong are innumerable haha… It took me a very long time to find Mark & I’m not letting go of him any time soon LOL.
Where to from here for Claudio? What future projects can we look forward to from you?
I’m working on a tour that follows on from Sounds of Sunset. More than ever, I’m wanting just to create whole experiences for people that they can feel completely immersed in & connected to - taking place in a series of unexpected places. A work in progress ! :)
Stream: Losing You
Watch: Losing You - Winner Best Film Clip at BERLIN, ROME & NYC INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTSIVALS
Interview by Michelle Symes
July 2022