Mojo - The Music Magazine

MOJO's Great Escape headliner has already had a 2011 to remember, reports Andrew Perry.

Anna Calvi, who headlines this Friday's middle soirée of MOJO's three-night stand at Brighton's Great Escape, has quickly become one of 2011's hottest new artists. With hints of flamenco and 1950s twang, The Walker Brothers and The Smiths, Calvi's music pulsates with raw emotion, scaling from gargantuan power to delicacy in a few bars. At her live shows, she performs in a stripped-down trio, but with no lesser impact. Those in Brighton this weekend can expect to be swept off their feet by her seductive sounds...

Since you were tipped for the top in MOJO in January, things seem to have taken off for you...
It wasn't what I was aiming for. When I was making the album, I wasn't interested what anyone would think of it. I had to be really strong about that. I was trying always to make the most uncommercial or unfashionable music possible, that no-one would like. Because I think it's really dangerous to start thinking about pleasing people with your music, it's the kiss of death. You have to be willing to take risks - if you don't, what's the point?

How did Brian Eno become your confidant?
I did a gig at the Luminaire, and a friend of his happened to be there, and he really liked it. So apparently he mentioned it, and [Eno] looked me up on YouTube, really liked it, and invited me for lunch. I gave him some of my demos, then he came to see me play. He just really loved the music. He sent me a very lovely email, just saying, This music's full of passion and romance and intelligence, what else could we want from Art? Which was really quite incredible coming from, you know, Brian Eno! He said, You don't need me to produce you, I usually just help people when they're in need of help. He said he just wanted to be my protector.

What, to you, is the perfect song?
Running Scared by Roy Orbison is really amazing. It's incredible how he doesn't do verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-whatever, yet there's such a thematic thread through the song, and it just builds and builds. It's really spectacular.

You toured with Nick Cave last November - have you heard his version of Running Scared?
Yeah, I think it's funny, he cops out at the end, he doesn't do the big note. I don't blame him, though!

There are epic dynamics in your music, too...
I like to play in a very dynamic way, when I play guitar. It's not a conscious thing, where I want it to sound '50s, but my guitar sound harks back to that era just because of the reverb, and the reason I have reverb on my guitar is, it helps the dynamics. I feel like I can get more expression out. That's the reason I do it, but obviously the result is, it has a bit of this '50s twang, which I like, too. I like all those guitarists, like Link Wray and stuff.

Your folks are hypnotherapists, and hip to good music. What kind of stuff would they play?
They had the Stones and Dr John and Television. Both my Dad and my grandfather used to actually play a lot of tango themselves - they learnt it from records. The flamenco thing: when I was 16 I just got really into it, and I used to try and learn it from records, too. I never had lessons in guitar, I just did it by ear, so I used to just pick up different things. I used to really love Jimi Hendrix, and Ravi Shankar - I'd try and play sitar on my guitar.

You're very hard to pigeonhole, but people seem to have settled on PJ Harvey, which is a bit lame...
Yes, I get a lot of that. I think she's great, but I do get a bit tired of it, because everybody gets compared to her. It's not like being compared to somebody you think is really shit, where you feel insulted, but it's still like, Oh God, here we go. But I kind of expected it.

There seem to be weird gender issues in your lyrics. You have a song called I'll Be Your Man...
I think everybody has a boy and a girl in them, you know? I think it's just another side to anyone, and some people want to get in touch with it, some don't. I just like getting in touch with it. That's what that's about. When I write a song, I don't think, Let's write a song about this - it just comes out. I wouldn't know how to explain why they come out the way they do. They just do.

There's another one called The Devil, which is pretty much you singing "the devil" full-tilt...
There are a few more lyrics, actually! I make a lot of effort to create atmospheres through the music, so the music expresses the story as much as the lyrics do. That song is the idea of madness taking you over, or whatever it is - this strong, powerful thing could take you and inhabit you. I was conscious that when I sing, 'The devil will come' at the end - I'm gonna get a bit technical here, if you'll excuse me - it ends on a major chord. Like, maybe it's a good thing. Not like, Oh it's so scary that the devil's gonna come. It's like, maybe it's freedom or something.

Suzanne & I?
That's about falling asleep, and meeting somebody in your dream, and making a decision that you're just gonna run away into your unconscious and never wake up. Maybe that's death, maybe it's not. It's the idea of escaping into your imagination. I'm constantly dreaming about stuff, when I'm awake. I do spend half of my life kind of not in the physical world, which can be a problem. It's just how I like to be, I suppose.

Who are the other two members in your live band?
Mally [Harpaz], the harmonium player, I've known for three years - she's one of my loveliest friends. She plays with this wild abandon, which is great. Dan [Maiden-Wood], the drummer, I met through a mutual friend, and we started playing together two years ago. I think it works really well, though it's a lot more stripped down than some of the record. I really like space in music. I like working with restrictions, trying to make a really big sound out of less. It makes you use your imagination more.

I want to see how far we can take it, with just the three of us. We definitely have our own little thing going. As a band, I got us to dress slightly flamenco, because, when I was thinking about how to express it visually, I wanted something that complemented the fact that the music's very passionate.

The live show feels very direct. Is that the intention?
I try and look people in the eye when I sing. It's funny the different reactions you get. You get some people who don't know what to do, then there are other people who really engage and stare back at you - you have this weird intimate moment with someone. Sometimes, they can't see that you're looking at them. I like it. If you're gonna engage and create that communication, you may as well go the distance.

Interview by Andrew Perry

See Anna Calvi at The Komedia, Brighton, this Friday, May 13, from 10.15pm