Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Marie-Clo, who discusses her origin in music, signature sound, new single and what’s next.
Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?
Marie-Clo: I was always very musical. Music is something I engaged in very privately. I was a competitive dancer until the age of 18, took piano lessons as a child, and then I did my post secondary in musical theatre and did those professionally for a while. I still do them sometimes. As a kid I got a keyboard one year for x-mas and I basically hid out in my basement anytime I wasn’t in school/dancing/playing outside and just wrote songs. You’d save the tracks on floppy disks haha. I had like 30 floppy disks that I hid in a box in my room. Music was basically a really really fun game that I never knew could actually become a feasible career. So, I got involved professionally only at 27 years old. I got the courage to participate in a singer songwriter contest and things just organically kept being all about music from then on.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Marie-Clo: I tend to write music very late at night. Im talking 3-4 am. Melodies come to me in my sleep a lot and I have to force myself awake to go record them on my voice memo app. I’m definitely more melodic as a singer songwriter. I almost always write lyrics last. My writing instrument is my piano generally speaking.
Review Fix: What inspires you?
Marie-Clo: As of now, nature, heartbreak, stories, perspectives, society.
Review Fix: What does music mean to you?
Marie-Clo: It’s so all encompassing. It’s hard to describe a similar concept. It both overwhelms and calms me, it creates deep nostalgias and new memories, it makes me feel creative and makes me feel satiated. It’s a beautiful contrast and natural art form.
Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?
Marie-Clo: That’s a good question. I feel that I have zero objective perspective on my own art. Id say it’s indie pop with electro components, with tons of influences such as Feist/Radiohead/Arcade Fire/Metric/Portishead/Christine & the queens, in both english and french.
Review Fix: How are your live shows different from your studio work?
Marie-Clo: I’d say they’re lively, mostly because Im a dancer so Im pretty active on stage. I have fantastic musicians, the interaction is fun, the live aspect is different from the recorded sound.
Review Fix: What inspired your latest single?
Marie-Clo: I was very sick with polycystic ovaries syndrome. I wrote shell because I felt like I needed to break barriers and be true to who I was. I was probably sick in the first place from chronic stress and non authentic living. Shell was just a call to freedom for me, and others who feel held back from systemic/personal barriers.
Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of 2020?
Marie-Clo: I’ll be releasing my new EP, Shell(e) Part II on September 18th. My single Shell is on it. I hope people enjoy it. I’d also love to keep booking these unique covid shows and just make the best of it. It’s been pretty rough for the entertainment industry, but I’ve been playing some cool online shows like the Philadelphia folk fest and the Ottawa Drive in Bluesfest, etc.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Marie-Clo: In 2021 I’ll be releasing the third EP and finally, the full length LP Shell(e). It’s very exciting. Im also most likely going to BC for 2 months in winter to write my next album. I hope shows can slowly/safely pick back up again so we can tour and hug humans again.
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