Tempo Talks: A Conversation with Clare Easdown

THE RELEASE

Originating from Sydney, Australia, Clare Easdown is a gifted artist with a profound connection to nature, drawing inspiration from the expansive and stunning ocean that envelops her. Merging her classical cello background with a love for electronic music, Clare's distinctive sound offers a mesmerizing fusion of melody and emotion. As a self-taught musician who honed her skills at the esteemed Newtown High School of the Performing Arts, her eclectic influences span from INIKO and FKA Twigs to Grimes, Sevdaliza, Madonna, and CHVRCHES. Clare's music stands as a testament to her unique vision, providing listeners with a captivating and immersive experience that defies categorization.

In her latest release, "NOT READY TO DIE," Clare Easdown delivers a moving call to arms for a world on the precipice of environmental calamity. This imaginative track showcases Clare's skill as she extracts vocals from Grimes' "Violence" and adeptly modifies the pitch and tempo to produce a haunting soundscape echoing the Earth's desperate plea for assistance. Accompanied by an AI-generated track and infused with her own emotive vocals, the final piece is a stirring blend of raw emotion and a passionate call for action. As the issue of climate change persists at the forefront of global discussions, "NOT READY TO DIE" serves as an essential reminder of the tremendous stakes involved and the catastrophic outcomes that could result if we fail to tackle this unprecedented challenge.

THE INTERVIEW

What song or moment in time sparked your passion for music?
I can't exactly pin point a moment in time that sparked my passion for music. Ever since I was growing inside my mums womb I was introduced to music. My mother would blast 'Material Girl' by Madonna and dance around her living room like her life depended on it. I really do believe with her doing this, has had a huge impact on my craving to produce my own music. So to answer your question, the vibrations of Madonna, eminating through my mums living room and into my ears which haven't yet seen the world, before my first breath entered my lungs was probably the moment in this lifetime where i was sparked into creation.

If you had to create a Mount Rushmore of inspiration, what four individuals molded the artist you are today?

The first individual who moulded the artist that I am today would be my father. He taught me from a very early age a great deal about the universe. He didn't force me into this knowledge. He'd lead by example. He is a professor of pure mathematics and got 100% in logic in one of his university exams. From an early age he'd talk to me about theories about how we came to exist, the mathematical language of the universe and the equations that explain our existence. Through being brought up by him by the beautiful rhythmic waves of the ocean and with him paying for me to have cello lessons, he would definitely be my number one moulder. Every spare moment we had, he'd sit on his grand Yamaha piano, open up the top of it and I'd sit next to him with my cello and we'd learn intricate classical greats such as "The Swan" by Camille Saint-Saëns. Through playing collaboratively along side my genius father he taught me all about music theory, crescendos, diminuendo's, fortissimo, piano, semi-tones, semibrieves and octaves. All of which has profoundly shaped how I create today. The next moulder of my artistry today would be our planet. Planet Earth. Our environment is all that we are and know. There is a rhythm in nature, a Fibonacci Sequence and Golden Ratio found in art all throughout history and unlocks the keys to our existence. Our planet, planet Earth is a huge moulder of the artist I am today. Often after primary school, I'd walk down to the ocean's edge in Bronte in The Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, and just stare out to the horizon. I'd lose myself in the absolute magnificence and perfection of the line where our oceans meet our sky. Through this meditative practice that I began very early on in my life, I have kept returning to the ocean's edge for whenever I need a revamp of inspiration. The next individual who has moulded my artistry would be Grimes (Claire Elise Boucher). When I first heard Grimes' music I was sent into another world. I looked her up on YouTube and realised she produces her own music from scratch. I was in complete awe how an individual can use electronic music mixed/beautifully fused with her ethereal vocals. I draw massively on her music. The last and final inspiration for my artistry today, would be a very recent artist who I've, in the past week just stumbled across and that would be INIKO. INIKO is from another dimension. Their music is like no other I've ever experienced on this Earthly plane, I'm actually blasting their track "The King's Affirmation" as I type this. Their lyrics, intonation, concepts, deep & dark brooding beats and production is stellar and from another universe.

How does your creative process work from the moment you develop the idea to the completion of the record?

As soon as I get time, once my two children are asleep, I sit in my living room and tap into something unexplainable. I don't think I just do. Ideas don't come to me they sort of conjure up in my core and just have to be expressed. There's so much still i need to express. I feel it like a spiral in my core that needs to be shot out through a musical score.

As for this release, who is the producer and what about the production moved you?

I am the producer in this track, "NOT READY TO DIE". As i produced this track from scratch the whole process was moving. I generated a track using AI technology. Then stripped vocals from Grimes' track "Violence" and repeated layered and repeated them over the AI generated track. I then created a layer of my own vocals on-top of what was already there and 'NOT READY TO DIE' was born. The lyrics seemed to just flow out of me. I haven't told anyone this, but I produced the entire track in half an hour.

When it comes to the songwriting on this record, what is the message you want to get across to your listeners?

The message I want to get across to our listeners is urgent, vital and essential for our survival on planet Earth. Climate change is real, it's here, it's happening and it's consequences are cosmic and devastating. WE NEED to address this situation, NOW. We are ruining our world from the core up. From the petrol we suck out from the middle of our beautiful planet, to the amounts of garbage we dump into our oceans each nano-second, to farms that are causing more destruction than ever before, WE NEED to act NOW. The driving message is CHANGE, and CLIMATE!

KEEP UP WITH CLARE EASDOWN BELOW: