It has been nearly
nine years since the release of your last album. What
have you been up to?
Well basically after my last album came out
I did a lot of touring for a couple of years, did a
DJ Kicks album for !K7, then I left Talkin’ Loud
(my old label) and set up my own label independently.
Setting up a label took a lot more time and energy than
I’d anticipated, so I didn’t have much time
or resources left for making music, so effectively I
was trying to make my album and I did put out a single
on my label, but keeping the label going really slowed
down my pace of music production! And I was never the
fastest to begin with!!! But in that time I did some
musical collaborations as well. And I was doing a lot
of my own music in fact, but most of it is only just
coming out or about to come out…
Your biography on the Early Records website
mentions that you grew up listening to a lot of very
varied music. Is that what encouraged you to make music
yourself, and do you think it played a role in your
music being very varied too?
We (me and my siblings) were all born with
a certain gift for music, but because we grew up in
an atmosphere that encouraged and emphasised not just
listening to, but making, music, there was almost no
way that we weren’t going to turn out to be musicians.
There was an incredible variety of music playing in
our house almost all the time. I don’t remember
many times from my childhood that didn’t feature
music. And then my father made us learn to perform a
wide variety of music, it was really a blessing that
we didn’t appreciate until much later.
You were born in Scotland but moved back to
Nigeria when still a child. How did that affect you?
For me, going back to Nigeria was like an incredible
culture shock, Scotland/Nigeria, it’s like yin
and yang! I remember this incredible heat rising from
the ground as we touched down. And this incredible red
earth… the whole place was so… bright, with
this intense beautiful sunshine that informed everything
that you saw. It created a kind of dichotomy because
in Scotland, we being the only black kids around, I
never felt I quite belonged, and in Nigeria, having
been born abroad, and with a different accent and probably
to begin with, attitude, I also felt like something
of an outsider. I used this to my advantage in many
ways, to become an even keener observer, to see that
cultural and racial differences are actually quite superficial,
and to feed my imagination when I felt lonely. I realised
really quickly that deep down everyone is the same,
and this has informed all my creative expression since
then.
Your songs often sound like very personal stories.
Do you draw from your own personal experience to write?
Yes, very much, but I use my (and other people’s)
experiences as a starting point to go on to make very
general points about life. What I’m trying to
do, really, is to point out to myself and others how
very simple and straightforward life is, despite all
the preconceived ideas and layers we try to believe
in.
You voice is often compared to that of Billie
Holiday. What is your reaction to this?
I can see how, but it’s a partial resemblance
I think. We share a certain knowing quality about life
in our vocal expression, but I think my voice is more
childlike. There’s no question that she probably
did influence me, though, because I’ve listened
to her music a lot in the past, and I’m a great
admirer of her work and of her. And of course it’s
a big compliment to be compared to such a great artist.
You have worked with a lot of very different
people (Plaid, Shut Up & Dance, Alec Empire…).
Have these people affected the way you work over the
years, and if yes, how?
Yes, especially Shut Up And Dance and Plaid
have been a big influence. Shut Up And Dance showed
me by example that beat programming can be weird and
original but still powerful and effective and beautiful.
And Plaid opened me up to a whole new world of sound,
a kind of quirky textural beauty. As for Alec Empire,
I just really loved his work. He’s such a really
complete musician, and that was inspiring too. Just
really coming into contact with all these talented people
was a big, big pleasure, I love them so much for that,
and always will.
How did you get to work with Shut Up And Dance?
Well I was looking for a record deal, and as I usually
do when I want something, I told everyone around me
what I was looking for, so someone mentioned that they’d
heard that SUAD were doing auditions. They told me it
was for some dance tour or something, and as I was leaving
to go to the audition, I said to a friend of mine: ‘I
know I’ll never get it because my voice is jazzy,
they won’t think it suits dance music’.
She gave me a glass of wine and said; ‘Just go,
try anyway’. So I went and ad-libbed to some backing
tracks and they took me on straight away. And it turned
out that they were making some of my favourite dance
tracks at the time, although I hadn’t known that
before I went.
What was the process working with them? How
much say did you have on the album?
Basically they made the backing tracks and would give
them to me to write lyrics/melody to. They basically
left me to do whatever I wanted and I was extremely
lucky to have this sort of freedom right from the beginning
when I was a greenhorn, because it was what I needed
creatively, and it set me on a good path. And they showed
so much unconditional approval and respect for what
I did, that was a really beautiful and nourishing thing
for me creatively too.
Now Is Early was
a very different record to anything else around at the
time. Were you surprised of how well the album was received?
I hadn’t thought about how it would be
received at all, until it was received! What astonished
me was how the press kept saying how weird I and my
music were. I had never set out to be perceived this
way! And had certainly never seen myself or my self-expression
this way, although of course I had been told before
that I was quirky or whatever. But as for the praise,
it was nice, but I didn’t feel it as such, I felt,
well what else are they going to say, I did my best
with this, after that I don’t care too much....
What I really loved was when, at raves, 15 year olds
would come up to me and tell me how much they loved
my music. That really meant a lot to me. That made it
worthwhile.
Your biography mentions that when the album
was released, you already had decided to change direction.
Why?
For me life is about change, and never ever
will I continue to do the same thing once I’ve
expressed all I need to within it. That would be boring!
So I always have to move on.
How did you get involved with Massive Attack
and recorded two songs for Protection?
They’d heard my music with SUAD and their manager
approached me to ask if I’d do it. Of course I
said yes, but I never imagined the effect it would have
on my career!
Do you think these songs helped you getting
signed by Talkin’ Loud, and why did you only release
one album with them?
Well, after I did the Massive Attack album
I started getting lots of interest from record companies
of course, but none of them actually offered me a deal
until they’d heard the demos for my second album.
Talkin’ Loud actually came in quite late in the
day, and I went with them mainly because of Giles Peterson;
he had such a pure-hearted approach to music. Talkin’
Loud also did my career a lot of good and I’ll
always be thankful for my time with them. But in the
end I had to leave because I didn’t feel comfortable
in a major label situation (Talkin’ Loud was part-owned
by Polygram then). They treated me really well, but
there’s a way that major labels operate that didn’t
leave me with as much independence as I required. Because
I require a lot! So I thought it best to have my own
label and maybe deal with major labels on a more autonomous
basis from there, you know, licensing through my label
rather than being a signed artist.
You seem to have established a very good relationship
with the guys from Plaid. How did you get to meet them?
They are the sweetest guys in the world, so
it would be difficult not to have a good relationship
with them! I love them to bits. I met them when I was
looking for producers for my second album. Someone suggested
that I work with them. Before we started, I wasn’t
sure whether it would work out, but it turned out amazingly.
They’re my favourite collaborators - I love everything
we’ve worked on together and the remixes they’ve
done for me are my favourite ones. Our collaborations
are always an amazing experience for me because they
bring a very deep instinctive spiritual energy to their
work. And it’s always big fun to work with them;
they’ve got this quirky English viewpoint that
just cracks me up.
I read somewhere that you got a bit of stick
for No Government because some journalists thought it
was an anarchic song. How did you react to that?
I don’t understand how anyone can think of this
song as anarchic! Or maybe I don’t understand
what anarchy really means. It was really annoying to
have to keep explaining to the press that the song is
about the real meaning of freedom, and them not paying
the slightest bit of attention to my explanations…
basically, no government is just saying that if we as
human beings trusted ourselves and believed in this
amazing intrinsic wisdom that we have, we wouldn’t
have to be told what the right thing to do is, because
we would know. And by extension the world would be different…
less stressed, perhaps, less fearful. Fear is a killer.
Let No-One Live Rent Free In Your Head
features an impressive list of collaborators including
Plaid, Alec Empire and 4-Hero. Was it your wish to record
with these people when you started working on the album?
When I started writing the album I had no idea who I
wanted to work with… so as usual I asked people
and amongst the many suggestions I got were the people
you mentioned. Except Alec Empire. I’d heard some
Atari Teenage Riot stuff and deeply wanted to work with
him on something. My manager and record company spent
months trying to track him down.
!K7 re-released your first album, which was
originally released on Shut Up & Dance. Who’s
idea was it?
It was Stefan’s idea, he works for and
part owns !K7. I’ve known him for a long time
and I trust him; for everything that’s involved
me with !K7, he’s approached me directly.
The album was followed by a DJ Kick mix album,
on which you worked with Plaid, and which kind of started
a new career as DJ. What is the most interesting for
you, to DJ or play your own music?
Both are really interesting to me because you can be
so creative within both things, the scope is unlimited…
making music I couldn’t do all the time, I have
to have intense periods of making music and then not
make music for a while, while DJing doesn’t demand
so much of my energy I think, so I never need to take
a rest from it. Although I did back off from DJing while
I was making my current album.
You set up your own label, Early Records, a
few years ago now. Was it a way for you to be free to
work as you want to, to be free from record company
pressure?
Yes in a way. Record companies don’t
deliberately put pressure on artists, they’re
just under so much pressure themselves, it colours their
decisions… there’s a whole atmosphere of
fear built into their system. It’s more just that
I profoundly disagree with the philosophy of the economics
of our age. I think it’s possible to be very successful
without operating from fear. So I set up my label so
that if anyone wanted to be part of a label like this,
no pressure, well here it is available to them. I mean,
there are lots of great labels out there that I respect
immensely, but I felt there was room for one with this
flavour…holistic, if you like.
Are you planning to release other people as
well as your work? What are the plans for the label?
What kind of artists are you looking for?
Yes definitely we will release other artists,
would have already done so if it hadn’t taken
me so long to finish my own album! We don’t have
a brief where artists are concerned, but I personally
would like to see more stuff out there in the mainstream
from other cultures, and more female producers. But
I’ll release anything I’m really into. There
are some artists we will release but I don’t want
to name check them yet! I’ll just add that I really
like lively music, but lively in any sense, could be
a slow ballad or whatever. But it’s not just down
to me as to what gets released, which is a good thing.
Our general policy is: innovative pop music. Which covers
a lot!
The new album is once again very different
from what you have done before, and this time, you produced
most of it on your own. How was it to be in control
for the whole album?
I didn’t feel as if I was in control, I just needed
to produce the album from a creative point of view,
it was a need that was almost physical; although, like
most women, I foolishly wasted time doubting my own
abilities before I dug into it. And then I was going
to hire a mix engineer to mix it, but I ran out of funds
so I mixed it myself too. And I’m so glad I did
- it was one of the best and most refreshing experiences
of my life. I really expressed myself to the bone! It
was wicked! It was beautiful! I was like someone possessed!
I produced the album because I needed very strongly
to express things that were bursting to be expressed,
the very essence of me (at that time) that no-one else
could explain for me. And now that I’ve got that
out of my system, I’m a different person and I’ll
never make the same music again.
The songs on Life Loves Us are separated
by little interludes, which are often bits of conversations
or short songs, some involving your family. How did
the idea come up and how were these recorded?
I can’t even remember exactly how I got the idea,
except that at one point I felt that the songs were
all interconnected in some way, they were expressing
one total reality, so something to link them all together
would make sense. I thought also it would make sense
to have people from different cultures contribute whatever
to the album interludes because I have this strong conviction
about the brotherhood of peoples, how we’re all
one or whatever, so cultural differences fascinate me
because they’re like the colourful threads in
a tapestry, differences showing the unity, the interesting
aspects of this big whole. And then I love the feeling
of intimacy with family and friends, I adore intimacy
and closeness, and so the idea of having family and
friends on this album really appealed. So I just called
up various people and asked if they’d drop by
to contribute an interlude. Basically I’d just
leave them in the studio by themselves with the sequencer
recording, and tell them to say or sing whatever they
wanted, then later I might cut it down a bit for time,
add a bit of reverb or whatever, or, as with my mum’s
ones, add some sparse sort of backing. Some were just
outtakes from studio sessions that I just thought were
funny and/or apt. Oh yes and one friend recorded his
and sent it to me. The ‘party’ interlude
was a bunch of my friends, after they’d done the
cheers on I Am Where The Party’s At,
I just left the sequencer on to continue recording peoples
conversations, it was a real party, and the mic was
just in there in the living room, I think people just
forgot about it after a while.
One of these interludes features a version of
Happy Birthday sung by Andy from Plaid, with
their long-time collaborators Mara and Benet. How did
you manage to get them to sing?
Well that’s quite an old recording, from 1997
I think. Basically it was my birthday, and I was having
a party, and Andy, Mara and Benet were late in coming
to my birthday party because they had a session, so,
I think to make up for it, they recorded this version
of Happy Birthday after their session as a
birthday present for me, and they gave me the DAT when
they arrived at the party. They called it Nicolette’s
Comedy Birthday Sing-A-Long, or something like
that! I thought it was the best present ever, and I
kept it because I wanted to put it on something, I wasn’t
sure what until I was doing my third album.
You performed at the Jazz Café in London
for the launch of the album. Are you planning any more
live dates, and if yes, what can people expect?
Yes, we’re doing live dates in mainland
Europe at the moment, and probably will be doing live
dates right up till late in the year. Hopefully we’ll
do some more UK dates this year. Well the set up is
quite straightforward: live programming, keyboards/piano,
myself, two backing vocalists (three at the jazz café),
and often, bass guitar and drums. Projections, bubbles
and sometimes Christmas lights too.
Do you get the time to listen to any music?
What do you think of the current electronic scene, and
of the music scene in general?
Yes I get to listen to music but only sometimes! Electronic
music is no longer really underground, it’s now
part of the mainstream. Consequently it’s established
certain norms and textures that distinguish it as a
genre now. Within that, there are a lot of interesting
things going on. Zan Lyons is doing brilliant stuff.
Electric Blanket rock quirkily and with the best hooks.
Nic Endo rules – 500 layers per song! Recently
(and belatedly) got to hear Four Tet – brilliant.
I got to hear some of Marcus Intalex’s stuff recently,
bouncy, wonderful. Ditto The Bug. I still love grime.
Electro does it for me on many levels still. There’s
some really amazing mad electronica coming out of two
Portuguese labels – Mono”Cromatica, and
Groovement Records. Music For Speakers label in Holland
continues to do good stuff. Music generally –
well, still with electronica, I met Lichuan Chong recently,
weird abstract electronica, amazing. I have no idea
what’s specifically in the charts though! Every
now and again I might hear a song and I say, I like
that, or, is that so and so’s new song? And someone
will say, that’s been in the charts for 5 weeks!
Björk of course is always on point. Amy Winehouse
is interesting, has balls.
What is next in your diary?
Touring. Our next date is at the Springfive festival
in Austria
Email interview May 2005.
Thank you to Nicolette and Lisa |
