Nancy Elizabeth - Seductive Battles and Thundering Victories

The author of one of the most interesting debuts of 2007, young Nancy Elizabeth Cunliffe (though these days she goes by her first and middle name alone, artistically speaking) is an English folk singer who has drawn attention for her compositional skills and for the refinement of the atmospheres in her songs, centred on the simplicity of harp and guitar but at the same time crafted with a grace and melodic sensitivity that reveal a firm, personal touch.

The simplicity of her music matches that of her artistic approach, sincere and free of any artifice, as well as the spontaneity of her manner, cheerful and genuinely passionate. Here is how the young singer-songwriter - unassuming and quick to smile - describes herself, shortly before taking the stage with her acoustic guitar and her small harp.

Let's start at the beginning: you're very young. When did you start playing, and when did you start writing music?

I started playing piano when I was about ten, but I never wrote music before I was fifteen, which is when I started playing guitar. 

How did you start playing the harp? Is that connected to the English or Celtic folk tradition?

I started playing the harp simply because, where I lived in Liverpool, there was an art gallery right near my house, and the group of artists who orbited around that gallery threw a party where there was an elderly man, about 75 years old, playing the harp, and after hearing him I started going to every one of his shows, because I loved the sheer simplicity of that instrument's sound, and so I set out to earn enough money to buy a harp of my own. There's actually no connection to tradition at all. That's just how it happened, quite simply. I don't know much about the 'tradition'.

Is there any truth to the legend that you won the money to buy your harp through a music competition?

It's true. I won that money through a competition held in memory of Billy Fury, but it wasn't because of my music. On that occasion my music wasn't being judged - I had to write down the reasons why I needed the money, and the reason was simply that I needed it to buy a harp. And so they decided to award me the sum I needed.

Some of the songs on the album, and its overall atmosphere, closely recall English folk of the Seventies and, now and again, the Breton tradition too, the music of Alan Stivell. What's your relationship with the music of that era, and with your country's tradition in general?

I wasn't particularly influenced by it. At least no more than I've been influenced by plenty of other, different things. I've certainly listened to Pentangle and that whole circle of musicians, but I wouldn't say they were a major influence on me at all. What I mean is, I'm influenced and inspired by a lot of different sources, and I take a bit from each of them.

So what are your main sources of inspiration, then? Do you have a classical background?

It's very hard for me to say, but right now I'd say that Talk Talk were very important to my musical education, especially the later albums like "Laughing Stock" and "Spirit of Eden", and Mark Hollis's solo work, but when I was a child I listened to Michael Jackson and Cat Stevens, and I also listened to Vivaldi, when my parents played it, but I can't say classical music influenced me in any obvious way. I also listened to a lot of Led Zeppelin. A bit of everything, I'd say.

Are you interested in music from other countries? And if so, how did that interest come about, and what's your approach to 'foreign' music? Do you listen to other people's suggestions, or do you approach it by studying its languages and patterns yourself?

I like listening to as much music as possible. From all kinds of different places. I really love Japanese music, though I don't know any contemporary artists coming from there. And I also love African music. But my approach to all of it is very non-technical, not very 'intellectual', I'd say.

There's a song on your album, "Hey Son", which you also chose as a single, that sounds quite different from the rest: some people loved it, others much less so. How do you feel about this track? Do you think there's some kind of 'post-rock' influence behind "Hey Son"?

I really love that track. It's one of my favourites. Sometimes I get bored writing songs that don't have a more driving rhythm, and this song has one: it's a nice contrast with the rest of the album. I love contrasts a lot, and since the album's songs are all fairly similar, I was afraid it could get boring after a while. I needed some contrast, and "Hey Son" does the job. There's probably a post-rock influence in this track, but it's more on a subconscious level. If it's there, it wasn't intentional or deliberately sought after.

Could you explain the meaning behind the album's title ("Battle And Victory")? Is there some symbolic meaning behind that choice?

The cover artwork shows a fish swimming upstream, and it's inspired by a letter written in the thirteenth century by a Japanese monk, explaining the difficulties one has to face in order to live a truly happy everyday life — just like a fish that has to fight its way up the rapids, but which, in the end, once it succeeds, achieves victory. And that victory is happiness. I also chose the title because managing to write this album was, for me, a great victory, the achievement of a goal, of a purpose.

Your first EP, "The Wheel Turning King", sounds rougher than the album, with a less polished sound, and something almost ritualistic, even ancestral, seems to emerge from the music on that record: where does that come from?

The funny thing is that "The Wheel Turning King" was recorded in a church. Hence the obvious 'ritualistic' component of my music. But actually I recorded it there simply because I loved the acoustics of that place so much.

Also, when I recorded those songs I was younger, three years younger, and had much less recording experience. It was also recorded very quickly, all in two days: that's why it sounds so simple and natural.

Did you use a producer for the album? And do you think a producer can help you develop your ideas, or do you prefer to do everything yourself and avoid outside influences?

I did have a producer for "Battle And Victory". But I think it really depends on the producer and the artist. For instance, with the producer I worked with on the album, we built a really good relationship, so whenever I brought him my ideas he'd tell me what he thought, and in turn he'd bring me his own. And it wasn't difficult, because I soon realised we were heading in the same direction, aiming for the same result, the same goal. So it never happened that he'd say "we should do it this way" and I'd be forced to agree. Plenty of producers probably work like that, but I wouldn't have liked working that way, since I have my own ideas and I don't like being told what to do. That said, when you work completely on your own you run the risk of feeling isolated and losing the ability to tell whether something is good or not, because you only have your own point of view. So it's really important to have someone to work with. 

You told us you played everything yourself, and yet your arrangements are very careful and precise, to the point of becoming almost the nerve centres of your songs: when you write a song, do you already have the arrangement in mind, or is that a process that comes later?

Sometimes it happens that the 'right' arrangement comes after I've written a song, but most of the time, when I write, I already have a fairly precise idea in my head.

Do you usually write songs on guitar?

I write on whichever instrument is the backbone of each particular song. If you see me playing the harp, then that song will have been written on the harp, and the same goes if the main instrument is guitar or piano. Sometimes I decide a song sounds better on a different instrument than the one it was written on, but that doesn't happen very often.

We wanted to ask you something about Leaf, the interesting label that released your album. How did you get in touch with them? And are you happy there?

Actually, I'd already fully recorded the album before meeting anyone from Leaf, so I wasn't quite sure how I was going to release it. I'd thought about releasing it myself, but I wasn't too keen on the idea, since at the time I didn't have the knowledge or experience to follow it through, nor enough money.

It took me a whole year to record "Battle And Victory", and by the end of that year I had a friend I'd also played some gigs with, who had often played with artists from Leaf. I told him that, even though I'd finished the album, I had no idea how I could release it. So I asked him if he could play it for the label. He did, and they liked it so much that they decided to put it out. That's all there is to it.

We're curious about the real reason why you no longer use your surname (Cunliffe). We heard you dropped it because no one could pronounce it properly. Is that true?

It's true that not many people manage to pronounce it right. I say it a certain way because I have a strong northern accent. Mine is actually a very typical northern surname, and people in London or elsewhere in the country always get the pronunciation wrong. In the end it can get a bit confusing. Plus, three names is too long. It doesn't look good written down anywhere. And 'Nancy Elizabeth' is much easier to remember. It was my own choice. The label had no say in that decision.

Can you tell us something about the process you follow when writing your lyrics? And what are they about?

I guess I could say they're a bit abstract. If you read the lyrics without the music, maybe not everything would make sense. I really love rhymes, and the sound of words. The sound of vowels, in particular, is really important to me.

In the end, it all comes from personal experience, but what matters most to me is how the words sound alongside the music. In fact, I always write the lyrics after composing the music, without exception. For me, the music always remains more important.

More and more female artists, both in Europe and in the United States, are turning to folk music: do you think this is down to a particular female sensibility? And are there any artists who have particularly struck you?

It's a bit strange. Because the first thing people write when they talk about me, or about any other female artist, is: "she's a woman". I wonder if, when they talk about a male artist, they immediately say: "he's a man". Anyway, I do think there's a strong sensibility among women towards this kind of music. Maybe, too, if you're a man, when you're very young it's easier to think about starting a band with your friends and gigging around. As for me, I never thought about becoming a folk singer. I just liked writing and singing melodies, and I thought maybe other people would like them too.

Actually I don't listen to much folk, even though there are certainly great folk singers and musicians out there. I love the female voice a lot: I really like P.J. Harvey and I adore Bjork. I'm probably more interested in voices than in musical genres.

And then, I really like interesting, inventive arrangements, and a lot of today's 'female' folk is, how should I put it...

You can say boring, if you want...

Ok, yes. Boring. Flat, lacking in invention. Actually I don't listen to much folk. In fact I listen to neither contemporary nor traditional folk, which, to me, has always felt like little more than a goodnight lullaby. I don't find it very exciting. At least not very often.

Are there artists or bands you feel especially close to in attitude, in the way you make music? And would you like to collaborate with anyone?

Well, I'd love to collaborate with Thom Yorke, because I really love Radiohead. I listened to them a lot as a teenager, and the first record I truly loved was probably "The Bends". I think it influenced me a great deal. Obviously not in the arrangements or the vocals, which are very different, but in the attitude, in the melodies. Somehow, though, it did.

Speaking of collaborations, we noticed that one of your ‘top friends’ on your Myspace page is Danny Norbury (who released an Ep on Static Caravan and has collaborated with Library Tapes)? Have you already worked with him? Or are you planning to?

Danny is a good friend of mine, he lives three doors down from my house and he's already played cello on my album. I think he's brilliant and has a great musical sensibility. We've already done some improvising together and we've also played live. If we can find the time, we'll definitely do something together, especially since we get along really well on a personal level too.

We're down to the last questions. The first one is almost obvious: what are your plans for the future? Are you already writing something? And do you think your next releases will be different from what you've done so far? 

I'm starting to write again and I've been really inspired by this short tour in Italy. I'm starting to think about what kind of vibe, what kind of sound the new album should have. And I think it'll be something different from this one. At least I hope so, because I don't want to keep doing the same thing over and over.

To wrap up: do you think there's still a valid reason to write and play music? And what would it be?

Yes. Absolutely. The hard part, maybe, is figuring out which one. But I think that whatever you do, whether you work in a fish'n'chips shop or you're an artist, there's always a reason for doing what you do. If you can bring a bit of joy and relief to the people you meet every day through what you do, whether that's frying chips really well or playing music, then it can still matter, at least on an individual level.

Ride the wave of great music

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