ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES
ACCORDING to Benjamin Clementine, what the music industry desperately needs is a deeper love of imperfection. To help illustrate his point, the Mercury-winning Brit songwriter offers up a hypothetical scenario involving one of his biggest musical influences.
“Can you imagine if a young Bob Dylan went on a show like the X Factor?” Clementine asks incredulously. “Talent shows like that want their singers to be polished, vocally flawless. On that basis, some of the greatest artists ever wouldn’t get past the audition stage! There’s too much emphasis in the music industry on finding the finished product; someone who’s technically perfect without any rough edges. But the music industry should be celebrating those individual talents; those strange, maverick people who don’t fit the mould and choose their own path.”
If any musician knows a thing or two about choosing one’s own path, it is surely Benjamin Clementine. One of British music’s most compelling, mercurial talents, the London-born 28-yearold is probably best known for winning the 2015 Mercury Prize with his debut LP At Least For Now – a success story that seems all the more uplifting when you consider the journey undertaken by Clementine over the past decade.
Raised in Edmonton, north London, he left school at 16, spent a period being homeless, then moved to Paris when he turned 18. It was during that spell in France – when he was sleeping in a hostel and busking to make ends to meet – that he was discovered and signed to Virgin/EMI. And the rest, as they say, is the stuff of Mercury Prize-winning history.
The realities of a life sleeping rough are the last thing that he’d want to romanticise for PR value. “Romanticising my story is something I’d never do,” he insists. “People love to romanticise that image of the troubadour, going from place to place with a guitar on his back, entertaining the public. But there was nothing romantic about the situation for me. It was all about survival.”
You can understand why Benjamin Clementine so vehemently refuses to indulge the rags-to-riches story – as we mentioned earlier, here is a man whose career path simply doesn’t subscribe to any conventional narrative.
His second album, the stunning I Tell A Fly, is a perfect case in point. Refusing to repeat the same piano balladeer formula as his Mercury-winning debut, Clementine’s sophomore album might well be the most ambitious – not to mention most compelling – release of 2017. Initially conceived as a stage play and pitched to listeners as a story of two globe-trotting flies in love (yes, really), the album’s genre-tripping brilliance absorbs everything from rousing African choruses to piano sonatas to Broadway-esque tunes.
Needless to say, Clementine – who has spoken candidly in the past about artistic conflicts with his record label – fought extremely hard to ensure the album was released exactly as he how conceived it.
“Were there disagreements with my label?” he says. “Yes, I had to fight. But ultimately they had to get behind me. If they wanted me to do things their way, I would have just gone back to playing for nothing and sleeping rough. I think it’s a huge success to have an album like this on a major label. It’s a rare thing, and I’m so glad I fought them.”
If his idol Bob Dylan would fail to pass the X Factor audition, Benjamin Clementine, it’s safe to say, is only too happy to join him in that rejects pile.
“I don’t want to follow a predictable career path,” he states. “The music industry is all about repeating a formula, whatever happens to be popular, so you can maximise profit. My heroes are people like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen; people who constantly challenged themselves and the public. I’m not just thinking about my next album, I’m thinking about what I’d like to be doing in 15, 20 years time.”
Benjamin Clementine plays the O2 Ritz on Monday, December 4. WHO ARE THEY? A Mancunian trio creating the perfect soundtrack for those long, dark nights of the soul. Led by one of Manc music’s most in-demand vocalists, Hayley Philippa Williams, Neota occupy the more introspective end of the ambient electronica spectrum, the trio’s music as much a demonstration of atmosphere and texture as it is traditional songcraft. Not that they’re lacking in big tunes, mind. Absorbing a range of influences, from jazz and soul to trip-hop and post-dubstep, Neota’s music hinges on the juxtaposition of brooding, nocturnal atmospherics and the deep, emotional intimacy of Williams’ vocals – imagine early Portishead given a neo-soul makeover. Formed at the start of the year, the trio have only released a handful of tracks online, and their debut EP isn’t due out until early 2018 – all the more reason, then, to catch them live this weekend and be utterly blown away. FOR FANS OF: Portishead, Burial, FKA Twigs, Bonobo. MAKE A DATE: Neota play The Castle Hotel (as part of the Nailed It! showcase) December 3. More info at - neotamusic.com