Ever since CBC Electronic launched more than two years ago, we’ve been keeping an eye on Claire Kenway. The “daughter of a mad scientist and a violinist,” who makes music as just Claire, has enchanted us with her futuristic mixture of techno. Dark, funky basslines, jazz inflections, wafting melodies and micro funk are all part of her creative arsenal, and she uses them to stunning effect.
After releasing a couple of EPs and posting many live mixes to her SoundCloud page, the Montreal-based producer and sound artiste put out her first LP, Under A Midnight Moon, on Nov. 6. Released on Pheek’s Archipel Records, the album is full of the sounds that make Claire’s work so captivating. But this time, the music has been enhanced by the saxophone work of Alex Mitrecey. The inclusion of the brass has pushed Claire’s music into a new realm, and it will be interesting to see where live instrumentation will lead her.
Aside from music, and her DJ residency at Montreal bar Laika, Claire is also an accomplished artist and has created several installations and kinetic works that incorporate bicycles and wind harps. CBC Electronic caught up with Claire via email as she traipsed around Argentina, performing and soaking up the sun.
How did you first get involved in music?
I always loved music. My mother is a professional violinist. After playing violin for seven years, from age five to 12, followed by two years of bass guitar, and singing lessons from 15 to 17, electronic music seemed like a natural progression.
When I was 13, I was in the car with my father on a Saturday afternoon listening to CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks. They started talking about raves — all night parties with electronic music. After this I discovered artists like Orbital, Prodigy, and the Orb, Kruder & Dorfmeister (whose DJ Kicks album on K7 is still one of my favourite mixes to this day), Plug and Amon Tobin.
When I was 18 and attending school at Acadia, I was invited to a small underground private party in the woods near Halifax. For the first time ever I saw a girl ripping it up on the decks and had a revelation. Less than a year later, I blew my tuition savings on a pair of Technics 1200s and a DJ mixer. About a year after that my friend gave my demo to a club in Halifax without my knowing, and I landed my first gig. Since that day, I haven’t looked back.
How would you describe your music?
Deep, dark, minimal, moody, techy. Sometimes dancey, sometimes funky, sometimes like jazz. Always quirky, and other times totally chill.
Under a Midnight Moon, your new album, has just been released on Pheek’s Archipel record label. How did the album come about?
Kind of by accident! I was on a rampage writing tracks — my own, as well as collaborations with my friend Alex Mitrecey, who is an amazing saxophone player. My best friend, Stefny Winter, is married to Pheek (Jean-Patrice Remillard, who runs Archipel), and [Pheek] said to me, "Stef and I have decided we would like to offer you an EP on Archipel."
I didn’t believe it was real! But it gave me the motivation to work hard to finish tracks to send to JP, and along the way he gave me all kinds of wisdom and advice. At the time, I was writing all of my music at home after dinner in the living room, so my boyfriend was pushing me to try and release all of my tracks together in an album.
Listen to a preview of Under a Midnight Moon:
What track means the most to you on the new album?
The process of writing every track is, for me, like falling in love, though looking back at the album I have a few favourites for sure.
I love "Story of Blue" for the deep, rhythmic fantasy world it creates, through lyrics, about a world where everything is blue except for two moons (an idea inspired by Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84) and also for its deep, lush pads and enchanting melody.
I am also particularly fond of "Toktok (In My Bubble)" and "Fugitive" for the ways they integrate jazz, field recordings and techno into a warm, unified, sonic bubble. Sounds include recordings from a trip to Japan, as well as some very special impromptu outtakes from studio sessions with myself and Alex Mitrecey, which adds a kind of rawness.
What is it about making art with musical elements that compels you?
When it comes to direct impact on human emotions, music takes a shortcut straight to the heart and soul in a way that I cannot describe in words. As a musician who has always wanted to expand my practice beyond a single artistic dimension, installation art is appealing because it permits me to give a visual and life-like dimension to sound by creating objects with implicit meanings that move and generate sounds, but with a clearly defined social purpose. My art is about promoting sustainability through sound.
What other projects do you have in the works?
My next installation is an underwater sonic art experiment involving fish, called Acousticaquatica. It will be presented Jan. 17 to Feb. 28, 2013, in Galerie les Territoires in Montreal, as a part of a living art exhibition entitled De Natura Rerum. In essence the project involves tropical aquarium fish — neon tetras — as the subjects of an underwater sound experiment.
Aside from that I have a couple more musical releases coming up in the near future — one on Archipel and one on a brand new label called Goodnight Moon Recordings, also out of Montreal in January 2013.
What was the first record you ever bought and where?
Sounds of the City: Berlin, compiled by Jazzanova. I bought it at a record store in Montreal in 2001. I think it was at Inbeat.
What music are you currently grooving to?
Akufen's "Battlestar Galacticlown," Alicia Hush's "Bottlenose Blues" and the Magda remix of Rework's "Werewolf."
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