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With her debut single ‘Spiders’ released this week HV is introduced to Manchester’s own Kirsty Almeida. A lady with an extraordinary ability to merge folk, soul and pop sounds coupled with her stadium filling voice.
So Kirsty, what have you done in the last 48 hours?
“I’ve been buying a lot of gardening stuff actually, also mostly painting; I’ve been preparing the album artwork which I basically took a picture, self-portrait, and I’ve been adding stuff to it, moustaches and things. Also, I’ve been playing a lot of guitar in preparation for some gigs next week. I’ve been writing, new tunes, and just playing a lot of musical instruments… and a lot of interviews.”
Despite the press attention Kirsty seems largely unaffected and grounded; shy of referring to you as a one woman spectacular, your background in the arts, how did you get started?
“I’ve always liked writing since I was a little, telling stories, anything where I can bend the truth a lot and where I can take the truth. From a young age I started playing the Cello, the double bass, the flute, guitar… the drums, I wasn’t very good on the drums. I think if you’re creative, you’re creative across the board a lot of people think ‘you’re a singer’ that’s it. But I really think you can tap into that energy, you can open up all kinds of facets”
After a brief etymological discussion on the difference between facet and faucet she continues…
“I think my first song I wrote when I was about three, just simple things about the teacher and I wanted to make everyone laugh.”
I’ve just watched her new video Spider (a stop-motion slice of whimsy currently sweeping Youtube) there’s an acute sense of style- How much were you involved in making the video?
“Quite a lot, I basically drew an outline of what I wanted to happen that falls in the narrative of the song; I was the one pushing for an actual stop-motion Spider, no-one else wanted one, basically I wanted a slightly old-school horror look. It’s ended up a little bit kooky, maybe quirky… ”
Again, there’s a brief discussion on the semantics of kooky and quirky…
“I just didn’t want it to be another video of a female walking in a nightclub, pouting. Most of the songs are quite story based so I wanted a video that reflected that more. For the next video though I’m doing nothing, one stipulation, it has to be somewhere hot, Turkey, Mauritius… I just want a holiday!”
What are you most looking forward to in the next couple of months?
“The festivals! I’m booked in to play Glastonbury (she’ll be appearing on the Avalon stage) – Also, Decca put me in touch with some film people and I wrote a couple of songs for the soundtrack (an independent film called Patagonia) Oh, and the album comes out actually! I’ve never had an album come out; I’m not sure how that works!”
One thing you can’t help but notice is that Kirsty’s backing band (featuring steel pans and a horn section) is, to put it bluntly, freakin’ great. The arrangements perfectly match her soulful delivery and soundtrack a delicious mix of murder-ballads, upbeat gospel and straight up blues. Do you write most of the songs yourself or do you collaborate at all?
“I usually have a clear idea of what I want; most of the songs I have written myself, I do have a clear idea of what it should sound like, I’ve written a couple with the guys but I’ll also write songs with a clear idea of how Tom plays the piano or what Matt can do on the bass or Kenji on the Steel pans.”
Kirsty has recently signed to Decca the Rolling Stones’ first label. Did you specifically want to work with Decca?
“I had a few offers though, I chose them cause of the A and R man Tom, he’s actually a musician, he’s got really got ears, a great sounding board for ideas, patient and super enthusiastic –Decca doesn’t really have many mainstream artists so when they saw me they were like ‘Right, you’re our mainstream artist!’ so they’re pushing me, so it’s good to reach so many people.”
I bring up who she’d like to work with and she mentions clothing designers; Don Galliano, and fellow fashion stuntwoman Björk (they are fashion contemporaries as Almeida outlines a plan she’s making with a designer for a double-hooped dress that incorporates a 360 degree playable harp, hopefully ready for Glastonbury). Anyone else Kirsty?
“I’d love to work with an orchestra, I’d really like to do it in Holland, get the whole orchestra on Acid, I’d sell tickets for like 1000 pounds, people get to come and watch an entire orchestra descend into… well, by the end of it you know they’d have just blatantly smashed their instruments over the 2 hour set, that’s one direction I might go in.”
‘Spiders’ is out now and you can next see her play round these parts at the Feelgood Festival in Rochdale on 14th August. She’ll also be appearing at Glastonbury, Lovebox, Secret Garden Party, Kendall Calling, The Big Chill and Summer Sundae. TAGS: Kirsty Almeida Words by: Daniel Burt
Links:
Kirsty Almeida - Myspace
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