In the Chair: She keeps Losing You, she’s Claudio

In the Chair is a regular feature on Eventalaide, highlighting artists from across Australia and occasionally overseas. Everyone gets the same questions. It is just meant to be a bit of fun so please treat it as such.

Questions by Geoff Jenke
Photo credit Blair Gauld

A recovering perfectionist and self-described sonic scientist, CLAUDIO has been immersed in music and creation since the age of 6, emerging as a highly acclaimed producer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and composer. An innovative and holistically exciting creative force, CLAUDIO’s passion and prowess has found her hotly in demand over the years, from gaining global recognition as a female pioneer of live production performance with her 2015 viral live performance of Outkast’s Hey Ya, to her game-changing 2017 TEDxTalk How to Translate the Feeling into Sound clocking over 1.9 million views. In a live setting, CLAUDIO has also gone on to open for The Roots, Mayer Hawthorne and Common, while also touring the world, including Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Brazil, South East Asia, the USA and, of course, at home in Australia.

CLAUDIO’s 2022 journey is already shaping up to be her most enthralling yet; to experience CLAUDIO is to dip beyond the veil of reality and dive head-first into riveting beauty, helmed by one of the most exciting artists Australia has to offer. And the passion on display is echoed by CLAUDIO herself: “My deepest and most trusted relationship was to music. It has, for my whole life, been sanctuary and friendship and purpose and religion all at once. Which is a blessing and a burden. It means it takes a lot for me to come out of my shell and actually be a part of the world… I’m slowly unlearning and unraveling my tendencies towards solitude and making sure I deliver to and delight in the amazing people who connect with my music year after year. For any creator, to share with the world the art that is genuinely inspired is not just privilege – it is duty.”

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Name: Rachel

Alias: Claudio (my family name)

In less than 50 words describe your music, and yourself.
Cinematic art-pop suspended in a dreamscape 

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What was the first record you bought with your own money and where from?
Millie Jackson’s “The Rap”, “If Loving You Is Wrong”. From 78’s in Perth. Floored me 

80’s or 90’s Music:
I’m sorry, I will implode if I have to choose. It’s like asking “food or water?” 

What music are you currently listening to?
Patrick Watson, Loney Dear, Kendrick

The Best live artist/band you’ve seen:
Bilal. I got to support him in Philadelphia, Paris & Brussels, as luck had it. (Not in the same year) He is one of my MOST influential influences. Live, it’s like watching a real-life genie do magic. 

Your “In the mood for love” song:
James Vincent McMorrow “Cavalier”

Your favourite Saturday night party record?
“Currents” Tame Impala

Your favourite Sunday morning chill out record?
Love for Sale – Bilal (never officially released, which is just a crime against humanity)

Which song do you wish you had written?
Dwele – “Hold On”

Roger Daltry once said “Rock N Roll has no future”. Do you agree with him?
 In its purest form? Probably. Though echoes & iterations of it will forever be generated .. I don’t agree that it can’t be further evolved. Anything can be further evolved, perhaps just not always by the same set of ears. 

If you could record or play live with any artist (dead or alive), who would it be?
Hendrix. And Kendrick. (Lamar, not Anna) 

What is the most useless talent you have?
How do I even describe this. I can sit like a yogi ️ and become a human swing (hands on the floor) since my arms are so long. 

Your finest recorded moment?
Losing You ❤️

Who is your musical hero and what one question would you ask them?
James Blake. “Coffee?”

Dying, peacefully on your death bed, what song would you like to hear?
“Lovely Day” Bill Withers 

Stuck on a desert island for a year and can only take three albums. What would they be?
Jill Scott – “Who is Jill Scott” 
Marvin Gaye “I Want You” 
Matt Corby “Rainbow Jungle” 

Favourite all time movie:
“About Time” –  Look, if you let go of it as a “science fantasy” & just allow it to be a beautiful dose of whimsy as not only the worthiest but arguably the ONLY remedy to the constipation that is the human condition, it is magnificent. 

If you drove an ice cream van, what music would you play?
My 3yo’s favourite cartoon themes. She’s very clear that she wants to have an ice cream shop with me when she’s older, so I might have to knuckle down on the finer details 

Best show you have ever played in your career:
I did a run of shows for Perth Festival just gone.. on a stage right on the coast with my back to the audience..  I improvised/scored the sun setting. Two hour shows over seven nights. They were the most spine-chilling, intimate, most fulfilling shows of my life to date. 

Any backstage incident that makes you laugh?
I watched Liam Gallagher play at a festival a few years back. Then I saw him backstage. I really wanted to say hi. When he turned around to look at me, I just didn’t expect his eyes to be electric blue & suddenly had this pervasive idea that I had solicited the wrong person & just ended up asking him if he knew where the restrooms were  🙄️ 

Neil Young or Paul McCartney?
Sir Paul, anyday.

What do you hope the next 12 months holds for you?
An instrumental record with my friend Brody Simpson;
A couple of singles within the realm of “Losing You”; official releases of some of the soundtracks I’ve made over the last couple of years; lots of laughs with my entrepreneurial 3-year-old & with a bit of luck, many happy surprises 

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Nothing is lost on the latest single from acclaimed artistic alchemist CLAUDIO, with her brand-new track Losing You. A lavish art pop wonderland glazed with RnB arrangements and ardent basslines, Losing You tackles themes of self-sabotage and the subconscious in sophistication, alongside its utterly mesmerising, and award-winning, accompanying music video.

Losing You, written, recorded, produced and performed by CLAUDIO herself, dazzles in humid beats, glossy reverb and emphatic backing vocals, with CLAUDIO’s firm, ferocious yet swooning vocals fluidly charming around the luminous instrumental arrangements. Engineered by Mark McEwan (Birds of Tokyo, Tkay Maizda, Karnivool) and mastered by John Greenham (Billie Eilish, Mura Masa), Losing You glistens with mature pop sensibilities and hypnotic hues, a la James Blake, Labrinth and Pink Floyd, while also sharply examining deep-seated trauma and a coming to consciousness.

As CLAUDIO explains, “It’s inspired by the witnessing of self-sabotage in real-time; and feeling powerless against the momentum of trauma patterning. I came to the difficult-to-swallow understanding some years back via a rapidly failing relationship, that self-awareness is not always enough to outrun the deeper wiring of the subconscious. Especially when two people are inter-playing their childhood-written programs as if they were literally scripted and being acted out.”