Clara Pople - 'Balance'
Taken from her debut EP ‘It’s the Girl’ Clara Pople enchants us with lead single ‘Balance’. Hitting the hearts for fans of London Grammar and Massive Attack.
‘It’s The Girl’ EP, sees Clara expertly fuse together a vast array of influences from early trip-hop to folk, defining herself as a true avant-pop artist who won’t be bound by genre. She continues to use her voice as both her instrument and her accompaniment to striking effect, creating a whole choir, dark bass lines, syncopated beatboxing rhythms and 6-part harmonies all from her own voice. Clara manipulates classical technique, gospel, and Bristol trip-hop music to create darkly poetic, unique and original sounds. Each track layers sombre messaging against emotive soundscapes, peppered with melodic interludes that interject small moments of positivity along the way.
Clara said about the EP “These songs are just a musical concoction of emotions that I’ve harboured over the years. There’s always a female protagonist…..which I guess is me. ’There's also always some sort of feeling of loss, or being chased, which I guess reflects what it is to be in your early twenties.' And there is always, always a sense of empowerment within the music – which I suppose is where I find my solace.”
She continued to talk about the lead single; “‘Balance’ holds a special place in my heart. It's about that feeling of being completely overwhelmed by life. I wrote it at the end of 2022, the past couple of years had been riddled with death and I wanted to try and translate an idea about not only the grief, but also the overwhelmingness of life sometimes…..Like I am completely overwhelmed and on the edge of a mental breakdown but I’m absolutely vibing to this melody and beat and I’m singing with such venom that I am empowering myself to keep moving”
Clara Pople is a graduate of the prestigious British and Irish Modern Music Institute in Manchester (BIMM). Momentum for the artist continues to gather pace following the release of just three singles. She has since secured spot plays on BBC Radio 1, support from Sofar Sounds, multiple gig bookings and been named as Kendal Calling’s ‘Artist Pick of the BBC Introducing stage’. The artist also won DHL’s Fast Track competition which led to a recording at Abbey Road studios with pianist and producer Hannah V (Stormzy, JP Cooper, Yola, TOBi), as well as mentoring from producer Jax Jones (Duke Dumont, Raye). 2023 has also seen Clara successfully perform a 20-night showstopping residency at Edinburgh Free Fringe venue The Little White Pig, a popular Edinburgh nightspot steeped in culture that belongs to Emma Currie, the wife of renowned Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh. She has packed out shows across popular London venues The Waiting Room, The Finsbury, Matchstick Piehouse and continues to host beautiful fairy-lit houseboat gigs, monthly, to a select few in South East London.
