Start Listening To: Clementine Valentine
How Clementine Valentine navigates creative kinship.
Clementine Valentine emerges as an enchanting anomaly, masterfully weaving together echoes of tradition with the contemporary. Their forthcoming album, The Coin that Broke the Fountain Floor promises a delicate balance of the ethereal and the tangible, a concoction that speaks to the heart as much as it captivates the senses. In this Q&A, Clementine Valentine, the sisterly duo behind the music, invites us into their realm of poetic musings, intimate inspirations, and creative kinship.
Congratulations on your upcoming album The Coin that Broke the Fountain Floor - How does this album differ from your previous works, and what inspired the new direction in your music?
Thank you! The main difference would be the fact that we worked more closely with more collaborators than we ever had before. It feels a bit like a coming of age album in many ways. Our language is still fantasy, but I think it’s conveyed in a bit more of a grown up way - less wide-eyed, more realistically hopeful, perhaps.
Coming out of the pandemic era (like a lot of people, I think) we felt really changed and were craving a new start, the name change felt very natural and kind of freeing.
Plus our names rhyme and people already think we’ve made them up, so it wasn’t such a stretch!
‘Time and Tide’ is a captivating single, and the music video is visually stunning. Can you tell us more about the creative process behind both the song and the video, and how they complement each other?
Thank you! The song was written really quickly, and manifested fully formed - it had a simplicity to it that set it apart from our other songs. Lyrically it’s the most minimal song we’ve ever written, normally we’d feel inclined to fill it up with lots of words and elaborate on the story, but this time we decided to let it speak for itself. It felt really hopeful, more than a bit melodramatic, which was new for us.
The video was shot on 16mm Kodak film - plus some old film stock that the director and DOP (Greta Van der Star & Tim Flower) had recently found in storage, it had become degraded and created some beautiful textures.
We were inspired by Francesca Woodman’s photography - isolation was the overarching theme. The Lady of Shalott locked up in a tower, was another inspiration - which was very relatable at the time!
We thought the video deserved a fittingly melodramatic performance - and we enjoyed throwing ourselves around four walls for an afternoon!
As sisters working together as a duo, how do you navigate the creative process and ensure that both of your individual voices are heard in the music you create?
This is a very boring answer but we get along creatively so well that we’ve genuinely never had a conflict artistically. That’s not to say we don’t fight - we’ve had some pretty dramatic arguments but they’re generally about more mundane things.
Collaborating with producer Randall Dunn and drummer Matt Chamberlain must have been an exciting experience. How did working with these talented artists influence the sound and direction of the album?
We’ve admired Randall’s work for a long time - these very cinematic realms he creates are so easy to get lost in. We’d never worked with a producer before so we weren’t entirely sure what we’d make of the process - as it turns out Randall is really intuitive in his process, not unlike us, so the whole process came remarkably naturally.
We didn’t know Matt by name when Randall suggested working with him, but soon realised he was a crucial element of so many albums we adore - from Leonard Cohen and Bowie - which is still quite surreal!
The Coin that Broke the Fountain Floor explores themes of dreams, desires, and hope. Could you share some specific stories or experiences that inspired the songs on the album?
We began writing right off the back of an unexpected spiritual experience we had on tour just prior to the pandemic kicking off. We were playing in Aberdeen, Scotland - knowing our family connections there but having no time to look up family / very much in tour mindset. The promoter said they had a surprise for us and not to miss the opener - it was Alan Davidson and Gayle Brogan performing the most moving rendition of one of our great-grandfathers songs. It was the first time our familial music had really crossed over into our present lives. It was eerily confronting to discover we were performing on the same streets that our great-grandfather, and wider family, had for generations - literally hundreds of years back.. It gave us a sense of connection to some higher purpose that we’d never felt before. Like being guided by an invisible hand, that’s when the fountain really broke open.
The album's title The Coin that Broke the Fountain Floor carries a sense of tipping points and extremes. Can you elaborate on the significance of this title and how it relates to the themes explored in the album?
All the songs were written and recorded during the insanity of the last three years - like countless other people (especially those working/living within the arts community) so many things were falling through, situations changing, plans being cancelled daily.. It got pretty heavy at times. The visual of this fountain overflowing with coins - wishes, hopes, dreams - and breaking under the weight accumulated over years of longings - seemed to encapsulate that.
Now the storm has past, and the lessons from that time have become clearer, we’re really grateful for all of it. Sometimes things have to really break for one to see the real magic in things, and find the path intended for them.
Touring alongside artists like Ariel Pink, Aldous Harding, and John Maus must have been a remarkable experience. Can you share some memorable moments from your tours or any valuable lessons you've learned from touring?
Too many stories to share! We started touring really young, completely DIY - and have since experienced nearly the full spectrum of tours - but our most fond memories are still of the people who organised house parties, opened their homes, cooked for us etc. some of whom became close friends.
In terms of valuable lessons.. I remember our good friend Tim Koh [Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti] giving me the sage advice to pick a stage outfit for the entire tour and stick with it. It seemed profound at the time, now I can’t believe I was that chaotic! Another lesson I learnt for myself is that whisky night-caps don’t actually fight the common cold, they lower the immune system (but they’re still more fun than a lemon & honey).
Your grandmother played a significant role in teaching you traditional balladry. How has this influence seeped into your modern approach to songwriting?
Family is really important to us and has made a huge impact on our music - our grandmother comes from a long line of ballad singers and folk musicians, which has been very influential to us.
We got our love of words from dad, who has been hugely influential to us too. His nickname has long been ‘the walking encyclopaedia’, he has this habit of walking around the house reciting poems or passages from books - always the most dark and heavy bits. Which was really intriguing and sometimes a bit disturbing as young kids!
Beyond that our grandad Jim was also a songwriter in 1960s London, he wrote countless beautiful crooning pop songs - one of which was stolen by Decca Records and went to number two in the UK charts! He taught Clementine the basics of piano which is the starting point for many of our songs.
All much loved threads in our familial tapestry!
What do you love right now?
Long awaited spring sunshine, naturopathic herbal tonics, dancing, our dog Merlin.
What do you hate right now?
Unseasonal tropical cyclones, social media.
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?
I was listening to White Magic’s ‘Through the Sun Door’ EP the other day. I discovered it at age 14, in the sale CDs box at my local record store, one day while skipping school. It would’ve already been a few years old at that point so I didn’t know who they were, but I bought it because I liked the cover art. I ended up becoming obsessed with it, along with everything else they made. It’s just as magic now to me as it was then.
After the release of The Coin that Broke the Fountain Floor what are your future plans and aspirations as Clementine Valentine? Are there any other exciting collaborations or projects on the horizon?
We’re so excited to be touring again! Beginning with a tour of New Zealand next month. Beyond that we’ll be touring the UK and Europe in February, and Australia in the not too distant future.
