L’année 2013 de Clara Engel
Cette série permet de donner des nouvelles de Clara Engel (photo : Ilyse Krivel), musicienne canadienne que je suis depuis quelques années et dont le dernier album, Ashes and Tangerines, est sorti au début du mois de décembre (en écoute au bas de l’article). Sa musique pour grands espaces existentiels ne pouvait que se frayer un chemin vers le cinéma. C’est le cas désormais puisqu’elle enveloppe un court-métrage intitulé We Are Not Here et réalisé par Aaron Mirkin. Film que le public français de la prochaine édition du Festival International du Court-Métrage de Clermont-Ferrand pourra voir fin janvier. Une bien bonne nouvelle pour l’année à venir, mais quid de celle qui s’échappe ? On lui demande en français (les réponses sont en anglais)…
A quoi a ressemblé ta vie d’artiste cette année ?
This year started on a very low note, last January was a dark time and I was somewhat out of commission. But it’s ending on a better one — I just released an album, Ashes and Tangerines, on December 6th. This album was two years in the making, so it’s an enormous relief to have finished it.
Si tu ne devais garder qu’un seul disque, concert et clip de toute la production musicale 2013, lesquels seraient-ce ?
This is a hard question for me to answer… I’ve never been able to pick one album, one book, one film etc as my favourite.. and 2013 was a year of mostly listening to music from the past that I had missed out on. I’ve been really into Earth, and the album of theirs that I love the most right now was released in 2005: Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method. I listened to that a lot in 2013.
Une année est faite de naissance et de disparitions. Quels événements furent les plus marquants pour toi ?
Well, finishing the album that took two years to make was an event that marked the year. Also, I scored a film for the first time, which will be screening at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival in 2014. These were two high points, musically, for me. More personally, I was very sick for all of last Spring, and that was difficult and scary. Also, my partner was in Taiwan for ten months, and returned in July, that was a very intense experience too. 2013 was a hard year, some good things happened, and I wrote some songs that stand up as some of the best I’ve written, I think. But overall it was a rough one for me.
Comment envisages-tu l’année qui vient ?
I have some exciting plans for 2014, but as the old saying goes « never make plans » — I get nervous unveiling them before they get put in motion. Barring disaster, I think it will be a year with a lot of movement, music, and collaborations. I have a new recording project in the works, and I’m going to be collaborating with a Butoh dancer at some point as well. I will also be playing some shows in NYC in February with Larkin Grimm and Tsinder Ash, which I am extremely excited about.
Quel sera le point d’orgue de ta vie de musicienne en 2014 ?
I never know what the highlight of a year will be… you’ll need to ask me a year from now!
Toute la discographie de Clara Engel sur Bandcamp.
Le site de Ilyse Krivel.
A Pound of Flesh (In Particulate Shards)…
L’album Ashes & Tangerines…
