Hey, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. I’m very interested in how you started your adventure with music, and did you know from the beginning that this is what you wanted to do?
Hey, the pleasure is all mine. Thanks for having me.
Hmm, did I know that this is what I wanted to do? Yes and no, I guess. I always loved to sing from an early age and I would seek any opportunity from singing in school choir to howling along to Celine Dion while helping my mom clean on Saturdays. It all got more serious once I started taking singing and piano lessons at the age of 13. My parents, who had picked up on my passion, kindly asked if I would like to study music someday. I simply couldn’t imagine not doing music, so my answer was a whole-hearted ‘yes’.
Congrats on the release of ‘MESSENGERS’, the EP sounds great. What was the inspiration behind it?
I have a dear friend, composer and vocal improviser Maddalena Ghezzi (check out her music, peeps! – https://www.maddalenaghezzi.com/).
On a late summer day in 2019 we met up for a writing session. She had just been reading about the golden record NASA sent into space on their Voyager spacecrafts in 1977.The record holds a selection of natural sounds (including some made by animals), music from various cultures and eras, human sounds like footsteps and laughter and spoken greetings in 59 languages. I was utterly fascinated by the idea that there is this record floating around space to introduce both planet Earth and humans to any spacefarers passing by. I started imagining my own little capsules of ‘natural life on earth’. It was such a rich well of material that I ended up writing the entire lyrics to Messengers in one go. I was also amazed by the diversity in the spoken greetings, all of which carry the same sentiment of meeting a stranger for the first time. Yet, there was such a colourful variety of expression. Very much like human culture in itself. It was so beautiful to me that I wanted to capture some of those messages, too. (I didn’t quite make it to 59, but you never know. Maybe there’ll be Messengers part II one day. 😉 )
What’s your favourite track on the EP and why?
With Messengers EP, Track 1 and 3 (We greet you, oh great ones I and II) are a sort of basket that the lead track Messengers floats in. The three tracks were meant to be one extended piece, really and I would love for audiences to listen to it that way. There is a beautiful video that my friend Cadhla Kennedy Ko directed spanning across the entirety of the EP. If you join my Insta @sketchesofcarol you’ll be among the first to watch it.
What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as an artist?
I love meeting and creating with other artists, may that be other singers, musicians, dancers, painters, poets,.. it’s all exciting to me. And since improvisation is my great passion, I run a weekly improv series called WEAVE Kollektiv that features a different artist every time. This gives me ample opportunities to ‘play’ and try out new concepts, lyrics and compositions. It is also a great way of getting to know new people and learn about their approach to the process of creation and improvisation.
What should we expect from your next releases in terms of style and sound? How different are they going to be compared to your previous works
For now, I have three more releases to come. Each of these follows the concept of a capella vocals plus one feature instrument. On Messengers, this was the immensely talented violinist William Newell of Solem Quartet with whom I had the pleasure to play in a contemporary minimalist trio White Flower a few years back. My future releases will feature cellist Steph Tress, (also Solem Quartet), pianist and producer Maria Chiara Argiro (These New Puritans) and drummer Gaspar Sena (Valia Calda).
Stylistically, these following works will be quite varied in vocal style, production elements and thematic context. Watch this space.
Where are you based? Can you tell us how the music scene there has inspired your sound at all?
I have lived and worked in London the last 15 years which has hugely informed my taste and sensibility in music and performance. Working alongside instrumental and vocal improvisers from all over the world, I have come to understand the technical powers of my voice and learned to wield these with great creative freedom in all sorts of musical contexts. This has been very empowering. Moreover, London has opened my eyes to the beauty of our multicultural world and taught me not to assume that my way of living or doing things is the ‘right way’. This in turn has allowed me to listen to people more deeply and intently.
If you could perform at any venue in the world, where would it be and why?
I love the atmosphere at Kings Place in London and I would generally love to travel and share my music in similarly light-flooded open spaces. Spaces that allow you to come as you are and be accepted.
Finally, have you got anything to share regarding upcoming gigs, and what have you got planned for the rest of 2023?
With Sketches of Carol, I am planning some live performances and live video shooting for 2024. However, if you’d like to catch me live before, I will be performing with WEAVE Kollektiv at Hannover JazzWoche in October, with my vocal ensemble Anthropos: Songs of humanity at TIN Festival in Düsseldorf in early November and with my contemporary jazz quartet for Good Evening Arts at the Albert in New Cross, London on December 10.