Name: Anna Clementi
Occupation: Voice artist, actress
Nationality: Swedish-Italian
Recent release: Anna Clementi  teams up with Thomas Stern for Doppelmoppel, poems by Kurt Schwitters, out via Corvo. While the release is already streamable, it can now also be pre-ordered on vinyl directly from the  Corvo bandcamp page. Copies will ship out October 19th 2024.
Recommendations: E.E. Cummings: collected poems; Patty Waters: Sings

If you enjoyed this Anna Clementi interview and would like to stay up to date with her work, visit her official homepage.



What were some of your earliest collaborations? How do you look back on them with hindsight?

With Tosca (Rupert Huber & Richard Dorfmeister) and following a collaboration with Rupert Huber, who encouraged me to start doing my own stuff …



[Read our Tosca interview]
[Read our Tosca interview about collaboration]

There are many potential models for collaboration, from live performances and jamming/producing in the same room together up to file sharing. Which of these do you prefer – and why?  

I like jamming/producing and live performances.

I enjoy sharing and exchanging energy and creativity on all levels.

How did this particular collaboration come about?

I’ve known Stern for many years. I think we met in 1991 something. Only 10 years later I started feeling that it was about time to start something new. So I asked Stern if he would be willing to record some vocals. Then we started arranging the vocals and so on.

Everything just happened. I think it took us one afternoon to find out that there was a lot of potential in this collaboration.

What did you know about each other before working together? Describe your creative partner in a few words, please.

As I mentioned, we met in 1991 or 1992. He was involved in an opera by Iris ter Schiphorst and I was the soloist. It was a one woman opera. But I got to know him better after 2001.

I really liked that we were both very honest and very fast in making decisions. I still enjoy working with him. We listen to each other and are very direct. And we trust each other. I like that he never tries to please anyone. In general.

What do you generally look for in a collaborator and what made you want to collaborate with each other specifically?

I did like his ‘simplicity’. Honest, direct and clear.

Tell me a bit about your current instruments and tools, please. In which way do they support creative exchange and collaborations with others?  

My tool is my voice, my creativity. And of course my brain.

Stern has all the technical tools and an immense knowledge. He is creative and often understands what I’m aiming for without me having to explain a lot of things. We basically always have fun!

Before you started making music together, did you in any form exchange concrete ideas, goals, or strategies? Generally speaking, what are your preferences when it comes to planning vs spontaneity in a collaboration?

We didn’t. We just started. Generally speaking I follow my gut feeling.

Describe the process of working together, please. What was different from your expectations and what did the other add to the music?

Well … I had no expectations at all. And I prefer spontaneity.

I usually have an idea, a seed, take it to the studio and see what comes out. If nothing comes out, I don’t insist too much. I wait for the next idea.

Is there a piece which shows the different aspects you each contributed to the process particularly clearly?

Not really. He works on effects and sounds. I search for the vocality. But in the end it all goes together.

Sometimes I come back to the studio and he welcomes me with new ideas and sounds and vice versa.



What tend to be the best collaborations in your opinion?  Those with artists you have a lot in common with or those where you have more differences? What happens when another musician take you outside of your comfort zone?
 
Of course it’s great to have a lot in common. But that doesn’t mean taste or musical background. I believe in the right energy.

The challenge of being taken outside the comfort zone can be very exciting. One should always check for what’s outside the comfort zone.

Decisions between creatives often work without words. How did this process work in this case?

Often without words. Or … a few words could be: ‘that’s crap’ let’s delete it!’

Then we laugh and go on.

What are your thoughts on the need for compromise vs standing by one's convictions? How did you resolve potential disagreements in this collaboration?

I think listening to each other and trying to understand the different point of view is fundamental. Also in life. Openness feeds creativity.

Was/Is this collaboration fun – does it need to be?

It was and it is.

Do you find that thanks to this collaboration, you changed certain parts of your process or your outlook on certain creative aspects?

I think so. I think I found a new freedom.

Collaborating with one's heroes can be a thrill or a cause for panic. Do you have any practical experience with this and what was it like?

The thrill, the challenge, the panic makes you grow. When I first performed ‘Pierrot Lunaire’ at the Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum. The director was Urs Troller, an amazing theatre person. It was all by memory, staged and choreographed.

I wished the theatre would burn down. I was scared to death. But then it was magical …and I learned so much from that experience.