Coffee Break with Claxy

The Brazilian music duo opens up to an interview about career, music, inspiration and a new EP that will be released by Anjunadeep.

CLAXY is an Electronica duo composed and performed by the singer-songwriter and pianist Clara Valente and the music producer and drummer Gui Gautreaux. Brazilians with a traveling spirit, they propose an engaging style in their productions. Claxy's melancholic and powerful sound aesthetic has placed them as recurring artists on the Italian label Natura Viva, where they released tracks of impressive musicality and depth, such as "Little Bird" and "Crossroads". Just after a European tour from north Germany to south Italy and getting ready to release an EP by the prestigious Anjunadeep we had a little chat with them.

Hey, Claxy! Thanks for taking the time to have a chat with us today. How did living in Rio de Janeiro mold you artistically?

We grew up listening to Bossa Nova, Samba, MPB (Brazilian Popular Music), music styles that were born or evolved in Rio de Janeiro. It's almost impossible not to be influenced by these genres when you come from there. Also, there are so many amazing artists across its history! Rio is a big city with different cultures sharing urban spaces. There’s disjoint and discontinuity, but connection and flow at the same time. In that way, you somehow could get closer to an artist you admire and learn from them.  

If you can, please define your music in 5 words.

Melodic, Delicate, Deep, Dreamy, Yin-Yang.

You are currently based between Brazil and Germany. What do you like most about the German music scene?

Germans are very technical and emphasize excellence in what they do. Tracks usually sound really good! This inspires us to move our artistic craft further. Also, their work ethic is amazing, and music business is taken seriously. In many situations, that help artists and events to mitigate the risks of live entertainment. The roads and overall infrastructure are well-maintained, which help a lot in car commutes from a gig to another with our gear. Of course, there are also always downsides, but we tend to focus on the good sides ;)

It caught my attention, while reading another interview with you, when you said that "excessive focus can also be negative". How is your routine with music in this case? How do you balance your activities to stay inspired?

When we are on tour, the focus is on the tour. And that usually happens between May and September. But from October to April we are more at our home studio. That's when we have time to focus on our artistic experiments (music, videos, new ideas...). The thing about excessive focus, it’s exactly because it turns out to be excessive ;). In the short-term it feels good, but after some weeks, it’s a sure way to a burn-out. Sometimes we get so obsessed trying to bring ideas to life, we end up letting other important things down. Finding balance is a continuous active process. 

How do your individual experiences connect to create together ? Which aspects of your sound identity are Clara's, and which are Gui's?

Nice one! Thanks for asking. Clara is a melody maker. She hears a harmony or a beat and makes a song in 5 minutes, sometimes even with lyrics. That also happen to her piano chords and synths. It’s a very intuitive approach, beautiful to witness. Maybe that’s closer to what most people would see as an artist at work. Gui is very creative and technical at the same time. Always studying and learning something to refine our musical craft. He’s more deliberate in his approach because he listens and sees something in his mind. If there were no deadlines, he would always spend hours making the beat he wants, days making minute automations and endless mixing tweaks to reach that ideal reference point. 

There’s a powerful aspect of storytelling in your releases. Tell us a little about the topics you usually approach on singles and EPs when releasing as Claxy.  

We love to talk about self-reflection and human experiences in a metaphorical way. There's also some songs about love and relationships in general. In a way, our songs can feel like dreamy logs of a romantic curious mind’s diary. 

What can we expect from you guys in the next year? Any news coming?

We have a 4-track EP called Ahead that will be released by Anjunadeep early next year! We are so happy. We've always admired Anjuna's mission and its artists. It's an honor to be part of their team. Also, we are now working every day on Claxy's debut album. We had so many good experiences this last season. It’s time to integrate and express it all in music. Excited to see where this will lead us. Ideally, we can release it after Ahead EP next year. The songs are coming out naturally half in Portuguese, half in English. That’s a good sign! 

Wow, releasing on anjunadeep is amazing news! Give us some more details about Ahead EP... What do you think is most special about the songs to have caught the label's attention?

We believe it was authenticity. It's what we felt from them. Music is the language we love to speak, to express what we can't. And here is a point where Gui’s endless tweakings and Clara’s intuitive burst of musical expression share a common filter: every melody and sound must give us goosebumps. We craft most of our sounds from zero, work on every melody to perfect it. Even inspired by a lot of artists, we could never copy them. We answer them back with what we have to say. It’s a great conversation to have. Also, we are not able to work on many songs at the same time. There are no spares and fillers. We don't stop until we think the song is transmitting what we want to say. That could take weeks or months, but we don't give up until it is there.

Now let’s talk about references. Name a few artists that influenced you, in some special way, during the creation process of the duo Claxy, and also name a few names you’d like to collaborate with. 

If we go back to our roots, I would say Tom Jobim, Cassia Eller, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and David Matthews Band. :) But talking about Claxy's sound, there are some artists that really inspired us and were part of our journey these last 2 years. They are Ólafur Arnalds, Monolink, HVOB, RY X, Christian Löffler and Bonobo. It would be a DREAM to collaborate with any of them. :) But we are open to collaborate with anyone. The music just need to touch our hearts.

You sing in portuguese in some of the tracks. Do you think this is a current trend? How has your work been received, in this case?

Yes. We love to mix our Bossa Nova melodies in Portuguese with electronic music. And we like to call it Brazilian Electronica. :) We believe a good melody transcends the understanding of words. Also, Portuguese is such a beautiful language! So this mix is a mission for us. It’s bigger than our musical career, a cultural contribution that we want to be part of. The reception is always amazing! It seems to give people a flair of something different, but still very relatable. Hard to say if it's a trend or not. It would be awesome if it turns out to be. 

What’s your plans for live performances from now on?

The show is always our main focus. Live music it’s where we came from and the stage is an opportunity to amplify what’s there in our songs. The performance must be alive, not only programmed. It’s all part of an emotional conversation with the audience.

Also, we have just designed a 2-hour visual live set and are SO excited about bringing it to all the shows!! We are using our music videos and unreleased footage together with extra layers of patterns and textures that interact with our music in real-time. Everything custom-made as usual. And it's a beautiful thing!

Finally, any words for your listeners?

Thanks for reading until the end. We covered a lot of ground here :) If you like our music, get in touch with us. If you come to one our gigs, please come say hello. We love to connect to people. As a two-way street, it’s always inspiring for us to learn how our music resonated with you. 

Interview by Rodrigo Airaf

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