As far as publications are concerned, CLARA LUZIA has become a little quieter in recent years. Her last album to date, When I Take Your Hand, was released in 2018. The singer-songwriter was by no means idle during this time. She wrote music for theater and film and has received several awards for her work. Below she got that Children’s and youth theater prize “Stella” and the coveted film and television prize “Romy”. And she also worked in the radio play genre, including for NDR. with „Howl At The Moon, Gaze At The Stars!” (Asinella Records; release: 27.01.), but now she is back with her own album. In an interview with Michael Ternai, the Lower Austrian talks regarding her newly found desire to write songs, the things that really concern her and regarding the one topic that basically all her songs revolve around.
You took your time with your new album. The albums before that were released at intervals of one or two years. Why did it take so long this time?
Clara Luzia: I actually had this one or two-year rhythm at the beginning. At some point the phases between the releases became longer. Why it took so long this time, namely almost five years, has a lot to do with the fact that I was very busy with other things. For example, I’ve done a lot for the theater in recent years. From that point of view there was simply no time for an album. I also lacked any muse. I also felt very empty at times because all of these things were sometimes very intense. Then Corona came along.
I know you as a very delicate and sensitive person. How did you actually feel during the pandemic?
Clara Luzia: At first I thought that I didn’t really care regarding the pandemic. The first lockdowns even relieved me a bit because I don’t like being around people that much. That’s why the whole thing really suited me, although I did notice that the atmosphere in my area wasn’t all that nice and that many people weren’t doing well. Seen in this way, the time was not nice, but it is fundamentally not nice in view of what is going on in the world.
So I did relatively well. We had a house in the country and in this respect we were privileged beyond belief. I don’t even want to whine now. What worried me a lot more, and still does, is the old, vexing issue of environmental degradation. Since I was home alone more than usual during the pandemic and spent a lot of time in nature, I noticed the effects of environmental destruction even more than usual. That catapulted me into a deep black hole.
Was Corona perhaps also a driving force for the new album? Especially following all the time you spent working in the theatre.
Clara Luzia: This intensive theater work also fell into the Corona period. And it was also so intensive because the rehearsals were actually constantly under very difficult conditions with very rigorous and sometimes abstruse requirements. For a long time it was not even clear whether the play would ever premiere. Other things have been postponed a hundred times. That was a bit unnerving. That’s how it happened that I didn’t actually do anything for myself in 2020. But at some point following all that film and theater writing, I felt the need to write my own stuff once more.
Through all this writing for others, which mostly happened at home and where I tried out a lot, I somehow rediscovered arranging and producing. These are two things that I had never actually done myself before, but which I really enjoyed now. Theater work is very much regarding creating atmosphere, and that without singing. Very often you only have to work with sounds, and I then incorporated this way of working into my own stuff.
“Writing for others is very different than writing for yourself.”
It sounds as if the different way of working was somehow the starting signal for the new album.
Clara Luzia: Probably yes. Writing for others is very different than writing for yourself. Somehow you approach the matter with more liberation because it’s not regarding you. On the other hand, it’s also somewhat restrictive, because you have to serve the piece and you can’t act completely freely, which in my case is also quite good, because I’m always overwhelmed by this free choice.
I would say that this new approach to making music somehow brought back the desire to write songs. After the release of my last album “When I Take Your Hand” I wrote almost nothing for a year, at least nothing useful. Somehow the air was outside. But I didn’t find that bad. I didn’t have writer’s block or anything, I just didn’t have anything to say at the time.
The songs were basically all created entirely at your home. Only the drums and bass were recorded in the studio. You had a lot of time to tinker. did you do that too Clara Luzia: Yes. You might say I’m lost in tinkering. It was kind of like when I got a four-track recorder from my parents as a gift. I was still a teenager then. Back then, I fiddled around and tried things out for hours. I recorded things and alienated them. When I started making music professionally, I actually stopped doing it completely because I thought I needed producers by my side who might do something like that for you. And that was true at the time. But now I’ve rediscovered the joy of this tinkering and at the same time remembered how much fun it once was. In the work for the theater I also noticed how important sounds are and how little you can open up worlds. And a bit of that approach ended up on the record.
The impression I got from listening to the album is that it is very diverse and varied. From minimalistic and very quiet to rocking and lively, everything is actually there.
Clara Luzia: I also think that the record is musically diverse. Although I didn’t use completely different sounds in every song because I wanted to have a certain mood. But I’ve already tried a lot, played around and sampled around, recorded and alienated a lot of things, it was a bit like being on a playground. That should have contributed to the change, although in the end I tried not to let it get completely out of hand.
Your songs always have a slightly melancholic touch. And yet something optimistic shines through here and there.
Clara Luzia: I hope so. I don’t like crying all the time now because that’s ultimately very egocentric once more. I’m trying not to lose myself completely in my self-pity.
“There’s this one big issue that’s happening to me pulls through everything.”
What are the themes that you work on on this album? Is there a specific one?
Clara Luzia: No not true. There is a saying that you only have one theme in life. And I have that feeling too. There is this one big theme that runs through everything for me. I try not to make it so obvious all the time. You can also look at a topic from different perspectives and it also has an influence on many other things. I can tell regarding many different things, but they all have a common basis. In this respect, you can always break my songs down to this one topic. The right thing in the wrong, that being thrown into the world and the feeling of being completely out of place. Everything is going wrong. The role of us humans in the world. You see, I have countless answers, but for me everything is somehow the same topic. But when you dissect it, it all boils down to one point, but I can’t specifically name the point right now. But maybe in a few years following a few more records I’ll figure it out.
If you look back, can you believe it’s been 16, 17 years since your debut came out? Have you ever imagined that following such a long time you are still making music successfully?
Clara Luzia: To be honest, I’ve never really thought regarding it. I have a very hard time remembering the past. It’s also incredibly difficult for me to imagine the future. That’s why I can’t say too much regarding it. Of course, my wish was to be able to make a living from music one day. And it wasn’t clear at first if that would ever work. But somehow I thought that it should be possible. I’m very happy that it worked out in the end. At least until now.
Finally, maybe a little glimpse into the future. In the spring, a fairly extensive tour is on the agenda. How happy are you to be back on stage yourself?
Clara Luzia: I’ve played a few concerts with the band this year, but it should have been a lot more. But we were kind of unlucky. We were very often requested at short notice, but had to cancel a lot once more because almost always someone fell ill at short notice. It was bewitched. We would have had our last concert of the year at the end of November. And once more. Catherine [Priemer-Humpel; Anm.] got sick two days before. Or this one concert that I’m with Farce already in 2020 RadioKulturhaus should have played and which had to be postponed several times. The last time it was supposed to take place, I suddenly became ill. I thought to myself: “There’s no such thing.” But it is what it is. Now I’m definitely looking forward to the tour. Playing individual concerts is actually only half as much fun as playing a tour.
Thank you very much for the conversation.
Michael Ternai
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Clara Luzia live
04/27 Milla / Munich
04/28 Greenhouse / Innsbruck
04/29 Spielboden / Dornbirn
04.05. Arge / Salzburg
05.05. Who / Ried
06.05. Kunsthaus / Mürz
05/11 Cinema Paradiso / St. Polten
12.05. Orpheum / Graz
13.05. Posthof / Linz
17.05. Porgy & Bess / Wien
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Links:
Clara Luzia
Clara Luzia (Facebook)
Clara Luzia (mica-Datenbank)
Donkey Records
