INTERVIEW: Sir Chloe

Photography by Cooper Formica

Interview by Alissa Doemling

I had the privilege of speaking with Sir Chloe on April 24th about her latest record, “Swallow the Knife,” and learning more about her experience on the road a week into the spring leg of her “Forgiving Tour.”

Alissa Doemling (AD): I attended your concert in Boston last week, and it was so much fun. As an audience member, I’m curious how your preparation for this tour has been different from previous ones and how you manage rehearsal and being on the road for a long time. 

Sir Chloe (SC): It’s pretty straightforward. For this tour, we just had a few rehearsals and then got on the road. There wasn’t really any magic behind the scenes. [There’s a different routine] every day, but there’s a lot of driving, a lot of sitting in the passenger seat, and then getting to the venue and getting things ready. 

AD: Is there a way you keep yourself busy while you’re on the road? 

SC: Sometimes I read books. Sometimes I watch shows. Sometimes I talk to my bandmates. Talking to my live band has kind of been what this past week has looked like. We’ve got an ongoing tour joke about Paul Revere that’s been pretty funny.

AD: Are there any fun fan interactions that stick out from this tour or from your previous tours? 

SC: We have VIP every show, and that gives me an opportunity to talk to fans. That’s been enjoyable. Usually, I let them lead the conversation, so they usually talk about my music, and I usually just listen. I received a stuffed sheep, which was very thoughtful.

AD: I want to talk more about “Swallow the Knife.” You’ve had much more creative autonomy with this record compared to your previous one. How has the songwriting space for this record been different from previous ones, both physically and mentally? 

SC: The creative process for writing was really different in that I had my own space and my own voice. And I was really doing it all in a very insular way. I wasn’t letting people listen to music unless I expressly chose the particular person who could listen to it, and I didn’t have that agency with the last two records, or really just the last record. With the record before, with “Party Favors,” it was like that because I wrote “Party Favors” before music was any kind of job—I just kind of was writing as a hobby. So, it felt very much like I was getting back to the process of that first record, where I was just playing it really for my friends and loved ones, and my managers for this record, who are also my friends and loved ones. And actually producing the record in five weeks was great. I worked with Steph Marziano. She’s incredible and an amazing producer, and we just hammered it out in five weeks. We had really, really long days; I stayed in London, where she lives, and we just kind of worked our asses off for five weeks, and that’s how we got it done. 

AD: That’s beautiful. Are there any songs from the record that stick out to you or surprise you that make you think, “Wow, I can’t believe I made this?” 

SC: There was a really big shift in the song “Passenger,” where all the demos started out as acoustic songs, just playing acoustic guitar and singing, and “Passenger” is such a stark departure from that while still maintaining guitar. It sounds so different from what I had pictured, and Steph really had a vision for that, and she really had a wonderful, clear vision for where the track could go, and we did a lot of experimenting with production. We stuck a microphone into a bucket of water, and I submerged my face in the bucket of water and sang, just experimenting like that. It really felt like how making music used to feel, and how it should feel, where it’s just like you’re making music with someone who you love and it’s exciting, and there’s so many possibilities. That’s kind of how I feel like [and] that’s kind of all encompassed in the song “Passenger.” 

AD: Okay, great. Thank you so much. Going on with the songwriting, for you, how do you know when a song is finished? How do you know when, like, okay, this song has enough, there’s nothing more I can add, and this is how it should be for release? 

SC: Really, it’s just a structure thing. Like, if the structure of the song is complete, then that’s how I know, or if the song just feels right, then I know. But there’s not really some kind of magnificent reason. It’s just kind of either the entire structure of a song is there, or the song feels done, even if it’s not. Sometimes, [it’s] just verse-chorus-verse-chorus with no bridge, but it feels done, and then it’s finished.

AD: Are there any songs that especially stick out that have been really fun for you to perform live? 

SC: Yeah, I mean to bring “Passenger” up again— “Passenger” is definitely one of them. And also, “Take It” is one of those songs. 

AD: That was a great one to hear live. 

SC: Thank you.

AD: As a musician, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve received in songwriting or performance? 

SC: I think the best advice I ever got was don’t wait for it to be perfect before you release it, because it’s never going to be perfect. It may never be perfect. Just releasing things, putting them out into the world, is more important than perfection. And that was a really good piece of advice I got at the very beginning, and it helped me a lot throughout my career. 

AD: Would you give the same piece of advice to other people that are just starting up? 

SC: Definitely. And I have, but people don’t tend to listen to it because I think it’s human nature. I want to be a perfectionist, but especially with music, it’s something that I’ve said to people and something that I will continue to say. I think it’s really important to keep in mind. 

AD: Awesome. Okay, those are all the questions I have, and I want to leave the floor open for you if you want to say anything more. 

SC: Yeah, just, you know, listen to “Swallow the Knife,” and yeah, that’s all! 

AD: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. I really appreciate it. 

SC: Yeah, of course. Same to you. 

AD: I wish you the best of luck on the rest of your tour. 

SC: Thank you, I appreciate it. Have a nice one, take care!

This interview was edited for clarity