014 Re-Introducing Claire Brooks - Nature vs. Nurture (vs. Domination)
Unveiling and breaking down the new EP; first time playing a festival (and first performance outside the US), scents, men, and black holes
Unlearning is inherently difficult. Breaking free from bad habits, people pleasing, and vices (eating handfuls of Old Bay seasoned Goldfish crackers during ungodly hours) takes consistent willpower until it no longer holds power of you. While one chalk up undesirable traits or tendencies to parental upbringing, hanging out with the wrong crowds, or consuming the wrong content, it’s ultimately up to the individual to climb up out of that hole lest it consumes you.
The last time I caught up with self-proclaimed “sound bender” Claire Brooks, she was nearly a fresh post-Stanford grad singing about relationships and sex and becoming worm food on her debut EP, The Human Experience. Two years later, her latest EP, Mother, is about relationships and sex and transcending the human form (not into worm nor food). This feels more confident, catchy, and blends her always-unique vocal tones and indie-R&B melodies with some of the rapping we saw on previous project I Will Outlive You. Combined with some stellar production from Nick Lee and Maverick Fabela that ranges from intimate and sexy to dynamic and engrossing to funky and atmospheric, Brooks launches herself from naivety to omniscient – and all the darkness that comes with it.
It’s rare a 13.5 minute project requires so many questions, but Aftershow is here for all of it. Brooks and I had to talk her recent overseas performance at The Great Escape, why Santal 33 evokes sexiness, and what’s next for post-Mother-partum Claire Brooks. She also breaks the five individual tracks down one by one and how it ties into a larger narrative. Please enjoy.
Aftershow: You just came from the UK not too long ago, right?
Claire Brooks: I played The Great Escape. It was sick. I’ve never done anything like that before. I’ve never played a festival and I’ve never played outside of America.
AFS: That’s a cool double whammy. Can you tell us about the whole experience? Did you apply for it?
CB: Wasserman hooked it up. I’m with Wasserman right now, which is awesome. It was definitely a new experience. I’m used to having crowds that are there for me. I was scared because I didn’t know what it was gonna look like, what the stage would look like, how many people were going to be there, how many people were there because of me, blah blah blah.
It’s one of those festivals that a lot of up-and-coming and/or independent artists play. It’s a great place for people to discover new music. It’s not like Coachella, where everyone’s like “we gotta get to this stage.”
AFS: We gotta go to Charli.
CB: Exactly. That’s fucking great in it’s own regard but some people were really engaged and didn’t know me previously. There was one girl lip syncing all the words to “TEN TOES DOWN” and one couple pulled me aside after to tell me they rerouted their flight to see me.
So it was cool. It felt like a significant milestone. It was also the second time I played without a band. I had a drummer and I played tracks, but I kind of felt like a fish out of water for a little bit. I’m used to sharing the energy and experience with the other people on stage. It was a totally different and really valuable performance for me in many regards.
AFS: The production is so strong on your last few projects. Can you detail some of the sessions you had with Nick and Maverick for your new EP, Mother? What was it like working with them?
CB: I could not be luckier. I was trying to find people I vibe with a lot last year because I can be a lot and people can also be a lot for me. You have to find people you creatively gel with, feel comfortable being vulnerable around, and share similar tastes.
Working with Nick is so fun. I almost feel like I’m cheating because it’s so easy. I don’t look down on sessions where I don’t have a good song to leave with because I know that shit takes time but I always leave with the best shit to blast in my car. With Nick, it never takes time.
It’s the same with Maverick, who’s become one of my closest friends. He’s fun because this man – angels sing through his fingertips on the piano. He’ll go to the piano, I’ll sing for 30 minutes, and it’s all improv – that was “Lucky Star.” It was all improv and we made it in an afternoon.
“Mother Medicine” was a great session too because I wrote that in the studio, which is how comfortable I felt with Maverick to be able to write a song like that. It’s kind of an intense song. We knocked out “Attitude” and “Hush” in the same day.
AFS: Did you work with any other producers?
CB: Just those two. And Aaron Benowitz, who I play with live a lot. He added guitar to “Mother Medicine.”
AFS: Does Mother as a your EP title trend more dominant or nurturing? Or does it contain elements or both?
CB: It’s supposed to be both. I feel like “mother” is such a powerful word because it’s the ultimate nurturing thing for people while it’s this power for others. It’s also very earthly.
AFS: We’ve listened to Mother a couple of times already, but can you tell us a little bit about the story you’re telling?
CB: As you go through the project, each song becomes a little bit more meta. I wrote the first verse of “Hush” for someone – the last person that I felt the closest to love for. That poem is a dream I had in November about the first person I’ve ever been in love with when I was 15. I just think he didn’t have the best upbringing but he broke my heart, cheated on me, and I still loved him so much.
In the dream, I literally saw his body drifting away from his heart and turning into a black hole. I tried pulling him together before I jumped in. I realized my relationship with emotion is shaped by these people and things, while the chorus is supposed to be a rebirth. “Mud under dust / flows through the sand / all that it was / all but again.”
“Santal 33” is “Okay, if this is how I’ve been shaped, this is how I’ve been shaped. Don’t fucking hate the player, hate the game, bro. Let’s just have sex, fuck it.”
AFS: What does Santal 33 smell like?
CB: I’m so bad at describing scents. It’s floral but not sweet. It’s also a little…I kind of want to look up what the notes are.
AFS: That’s cheating, Claire. Is it warm? Is it earthy?
CB: I would say it’s slightly warm but a little fresh too. I don’t know, I’m bad at this!
AFS: Nah, I’m joking. Let’s look it up.
CB: Let’s see what ChatGPT says…smoldering woods, smoke, spicy, creamy, floral, leather and musk.
AFS: Why does that scent make you particularly…active?
CB: It’s the most feminine scent I own. My scent is usually Aesop Tacit – that shit you can inject into my veins. It always go for clean, unisex, and good. I really only use those two but I’m only wearing Santal 33 when I’m going somewhere or seeing someone.
AFS: My bad, had to ask. Please continue.
CB: “Attitude” is a little more analytical of a relationship with someone a little toxic. The bridge is a breakthrough. The tense changes and says “I might still come through tonight.” All this aside, this is who I am and I still might hit it.
I don’t really know how to explain “Mother Medicine.” It’s just coming back to the earth like “Weathered” from The Human Experience. I’m more than my body – “Supplemented and / I feel better when it’s less than I need to know” – I can spend all my time overthinking about the same stuff but I’m always gonna be drawn back to this bigger thing.
“Lucky Star” is removing myself from Claire and becoming both the angel and the devil. The beginning is me being your lucky star, the lure, the Persphone. “Let me take you for a ride / I got sunshine on my mind” and then the beat switches, slows down into some evil player shit. “Run up your side, I’m your whore / Oh, I let you in…I would take your life to know you’d never leave me / God, who knew loving you is this easy? / Piece of your heart still in my car.” That’s the yin and yang of this project: love is this beautiful thing but it’s also an evil thing.
AFS: Interesting. We question what side ultimately prevails because we know you’re working on your next concept project. And earlier you teased the next project by directing our attention to the wall behind you, which displays both a picture of Astro Boy and a literal fucking hatchet.
CB: I do have a project that’s coming out at the end of the year. It’s fucking crazy and it is the next thing coming out.
AFS: We’ll just have to run it back.
CB: We’ll just have to run it back.
Special thanks to Claire Brooks for joining Aftershow on this week’s Substack. Stream Mother and let us know if she’s leaning more axe murderer or retro Japanese anime android boy for her next project.
