How did you come to terms with that and find your own voice? You’ve also talked a lot about being an outsider. We are scared to move forward, and when we see someone moving forward we get scared and we push them and hold them so they don’t. From apes! We’re curious to know where we’re coming from, but we’re scared to know where we’re going. We came from Homo Erectus, and after that, there was another guy, and then Neanderthals. That’s another thing you mention often on the album – the idea of constantly moving forward, without fear. I admire artists who make 50 or 60 albums, but I think that for me, I’ll have to find a different, new way to express this thing called love. We all know that – the Mexicans that are trying to get into America, or when Syrians are trying to get to Europe, it isn’t because they love Europe, it’s because they want a safe place, to be loved. I don’t think there’s any difference between romantic love and any other type of love.Īt the end of everything, it all boils down to love. It’s what you feel whenever you love someone. One of the themes of the album is love – what does it mean in this context? Realising that this thing called charity starts from home. I think it’s part of my duty as a human being to bring people closer to themselves. That, and for them to think about themselves. Music is music and I just hope that I become somewhat of an influence – I hope that I give people something that they couldn’t have got from anywhere else. I’m hoping that it stays here for as long as there’s still a bunch people blabbing on about the human race. If my music is still here, their grandchildren might appreciate it. I know that if they don’t like it, eventually they’ll die, and someone else will come along and like my music. We all have our ears, and we all have our hearts.
I want people not just to sit in the spaceship, but walk around it.ĭoes it ever bother you knowing someone doesn’t like your music? Of course, that’s not what I, as an artist, want. An artist is on a journey – get in a van, or that spaceship, and go with them. I prefer music that is sophisticated – that you’ve picked, sat down and really appreciated. I find a lot of the music being done today rubbish because it doesn’t affect me.
In terms of composition and sounds, I am also very conservative. I like to not mention names, but rather use something that’s close to us, so that we understand it without losing concentration on the real reasons why these things are happening. Once you defined yourself as quite “conservative” music-wise – what does that mean?įor some artists, music is about being socially aware, and they end up pointing fingers, saying “this person has done this” – like a higher power. So of course, I do see music differently, because music is an expression. I used my ears and my own way of expressing myself. It isn’t very easy to listen to a song for a whole five minutes and play it from scratch. I caught up with him to talk about melody, love, bullying and what family means.ĭo you think being self-taught affects the way you create music?īenjamin Clementine: Yes, I think so. It is both a personal account, and a look at the world in a larger scale. It all started with a quote present in his American visa, describing him as ‘An alien of extraordinary abilities.’ From there, Benjamin started dissecting the concept of wandering, moving forward. While the storytelling on At Least was strikingly personal, Benjamin’s latest album, I Tell a Fly, sees him turn his insightful gaze to the external world. His first album, the Mercury award-winning At Least For Now, came out in 2015, and gripped the music world with a level of poetry and unique voice that demanded people to sit down and listen. At the age of 16, he left the house he grew up in, and at 18, he was in Paris, busking on trains and finding his own voice. An autodidact, he consumed copious amounts of books, ranging from poetry to dictionaries, in lieu of going to class. When he speaks, it’s almost in a whisper – a direct contrast to the spellbinding strength of the voice heard in his eerie, soulful musical creations.īenjamin grew up in Edmonton, North London, in a strict Christian household. He is tall, with strong cheekbones, his hair in a signature pompadour style. On his latest album, I Tell A Fly, the self-taught London musician turns his unique gaze to the events of today, singing about love, being an alien and belonging.īenjamin Clementine is, all in all, a remarkable person.