CLARE’S ESCAPE FROM THE DARK
WHEN Clare Maguire released her debut album Light After Dark in 201 1 ,the future seemed appropriately bright.
Insteadthe singer struggled to cope with fame, andrelied more andmore on alcohol to escape her problems.
Five years later she has returnedwith a new album, anda new outlook on life.
“I didknow from a young age that I hadissues, but I didn’t change it because I was happy being out of it all the time,” she says.
“It’s such a cliché but life is so much better when you’re not that, andyou’re aware of things andyou have self-worth. It’s something I’m still working on, andbeing more positive, but it can be powerful. It changes the way you work andyour relationships with everyone.
“Sometimes you can feel like you’re a victim andeveryone is against you, but if you can change how your mindworks then people will change towards you, too.”
The turning point for Clare came when she woke up and realisedshe’ddrunk a bottle of rare champagne her old producer hadgiven her as a gift. It embarrassedher into seeking help, andgoing into rehab.
At one stage she was warned she only hadweeks to live, due to the amount of drink she’d been taking for years.
After two months she was able to move back to her home in London, andslowly started making music again. However, the Birmingham native knows that she hasn’t put all her problems completely behind her, andthat it’s an ongoing struggle.
“A couple of months ago I hada real crash emotionally, but I knew that wouldhappen at some point,” she admits.
“When I got sober the whole focus became the album, and then it went, so when you’re not doing stuff then everything catches up to you. But now I feel better than I’ve done in years – I feel I neededto go through that, andI’m so grateful to the people who support me andto the position I’m in now.
“With me, I knew I hadan issue even before I got into music, andI knew it was going to be badat some point. I think music probably savedme in a way, because if I’dstayedat home it wouldjust have got a lot worse andI’ve never have triedto fix anything.”
Prior to that, Clare hadbeen hailedas the next big thing in music, with attention focusing on her huge, powerhouse voice. However, for Light After Dark she foundherself working with other writers andproducers, andeventually releasing a recordthat submergedher own personality.
With this year’s Stranger Things Have Happened, which she brings to St Luke’s tomorrow night, she feels she has foundmore of her own identity, toning down her voice in favour of a quieter, almost confessional tone, with more emphasis on the piano.
She believes the album’s lead single, Elizabeth Taylor, was key to that process.
“Elizabeth Taylor was a dance song to start with, actually,” she says.
“I was writing with someone else andreally likedit, andit came to a point where I was writing folky stuff by myself on the piano at the same time.
“So I likedit both as a dance track andas a piano track – I just really likedthe soundwe got with the piano, andI thought it was the right thing to do with the album as a whole.”
This does leave one problem, though. The singer loves a noisy crowd, but she’s now worried that the album’s quietness will put audiences off making noise. So she’s encouraging Glasgow to make some noise tomorrow.
“I didO ran M or on the Light After Dark tour andit just remember it being funny,” she recalls.
“Everybody was dancing all the way through andthere was a lot of jokey heckling. That really makes a difference – I even like being heckled, because when things are a bit rowdy it’s a better gig.
“When I startedtouring this album I was like I’ve put out the wrong kindof recordfor the gigs I like, because it’s quiet, andI think people maybe feel they can’t say anything. So I’m always like ‘you can say anything you want’ here – I’m encouraging people to be a bit mental, basically.”