Akatre

For Benjamin Clementine, nothing is more important than the spoken word. "Language is as powerful as religion and God. Without language we are all bound to fail," explains the London-born poet and musician.

Clementine won the 2015 Mercury Prize for his debut album At Least for Now. He recently released his second album I Tell a Fly, the title and theme of which were influenced by an odd bit of bureaucracy. "I got a visa to America and the title was 'an alien of extraordinary ability'. It struck me that someone would call someone else an alien," Clementine, 28, says. "An alien, me, living in America. I felt like a fly, a fly alien who wanted to know more about what was going on."


Originally intending to stay for just a few weeks on tour, Clementine ended up spending the full two years his visa allowed. "As I lived in America, I started to write about my experiences around that time. There was the refugee crisis, Clinton and Trump, Brexit." Directly or indirectly, I Tell a Fly is an album that tries to grapple with the wider world. "I didn't want it to be just about me, I wanted it to be about my surroundings and what is happening," he explains.

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Clementine is tall, with improbably high cheekbones and a deep, soft accent that oscillates almost comically between north London and Queen's English. When he talks, as with when he performs on stage, his choice of words feels considered and deliberate. "Language is such a great thing," he says, almost childlike in his understated excitement. So great, in fact, that Clementine has spent the past few years working on his own dictionary. "I'm always coming up with new words or seeing new words that I like and giving my own meaning to them. I thought it would take a few months, but it's taking years. But, I am very ambitious. This is merely an inspiration taken from Ambrose Bierce, who wrote The Devil's Dictionary, writing his own meanings for the words that he loved. I've taken the same initiative. I'm writing the words I like and what they mean to me, and putting them in a form where other people can see them."

Clementine's rags-to-riches story – from homeless busker on the Paris Metro to breakthrough musical talent – is the stuff of dreams. But, at risk of his story overshadowing his music, Clementine is guarded about his past and disdainful of the attempts made to pigeonhole his talent. "I'm just not interested. This is what we do as humans. We try to understand things by putting them into sections. I understand and accept it, but if someone is being lazy and calls me a soul artist then I get pissed off. Because I'm not," he says, laughing timidly. "But hopefully, when I've done more than just two albums, maybe they will put me in a place where I deserve to be."

"You learn. You're less ignorant, you're less naïve. And you try to understand people's reasons for doing certain things. I wouldn't call it an angry protest" Benjamin Clementine


Clementine's influences range from Leonard Cohen to William Blake and Luciano Pavarotti. "I've embraced all of them," he says. "Some people call me Nina Simone, which I hate. Other people will call me… what's he called? Tom Waits, who I love." Clementine might have a reputation for being a storyteller, but that is also a label he doesn't feel comfortable with. "These are titles put upon artists," he says with a weary edge to his voice. "I would refer to myself as an artist. But obviously, firstly, I'm Benjamin. I don't see how I am a storyteller. If it's because I write stories, then so be it."

Like his debut album, Clementine's latest release defies categorisation. It's melodic and erratic, jumping from stripped-back piano ballads to soaring, complex compositions. All the while, his lyrics and voice come to the fore. "I've fought to be more expressive in my music and to be more… I wouldn't say free, because freedom for me is just a word," he says, pausing thoughtfully. "The songs are more musical. I spent a lot of time composing, trying to make an actual composition rather than just playing one chord and then singing a song. I used the harpsichord. I grew up listening to a lot of classical music, but it's also an instrument that, for me, represents Europe. I thought it was vital that I used original, classical instruments to tell my story."

Clementine compares the emotion behind his second album to a child becoming aware of the complexity of the world around them. "You learn. You're less ignorant, you're less naïve. And you try to understand people's reasons for doing certain things. I wouldn't call it an angry protest. I am not a politician. I am merely an artist."