Musical newcomer Anna Calvi calls herself "a left field artist." And she's not wrong.
The British electric guitarist/singer-songwriter makes a sound so unusual and striking with her instrument and voice, it's hard to categorize her -- but the popular comparison has been fellow countrywoman PJ (Polly Jean) Harvey.
"People speak about Polly a lot in reference to me which can be frustrating," said the twentysomething Calvi, down the line from Ireland before Canadian shows on Thursday (Dec. 8) at Lee's Palace in Toronto and Saturday (Dec. 10) at Montreal's Cabaret Mile End.
"Because it's not my main influence and it's not someone that I have really, really listened to and learned a lot from, even though I really respect her music and think she's a great artist. It's an easy comparison because we're both strong women that play the guitar."
As luck would have it, Calvi's self-titled alt-rock debut, which came out in January, was nominated for England's Mercury Prize but lost to Harvey's Let England Shake.
Still, it was also just nominated for BBC's Sound of 2011 prize, and is scoring high on best of year end lists by MOJO and Q.
All that, and producing legend Brian Eno (Roxy Music, David Bowie, U2) is her mentor -- and he's called her "the biggest thing since Patti Smith."
"A friend of Brian's just happened to see me play in a show in London and he told Brian about me," said Calvi. "And then Brian looked me up on YouTube and really liked what he saw and invited me for lunch. And we met up and talked about music and stuff and I gave him some demos I was working on and he just really loved them and he just became very supportive and gave me lots of advice. I feel very grateful because he's such an incredible artist."
So was there a chance Eno -- who produced one of her favourite artists, David Bowie -- might produce her first album?
"We had a conversation about it and he just felt like I knew what I was doing, I didn't really need him to produce," said Calvi. "I needed someone more to be there for support. And he felt that he's better suited to a band when they really want to change their sound and try something new."
Still, Eno attended the mixing sessions and also sang backup on two songs, Desire and Suzanne and I.
In the end, it was longtime Harvey collaborator and drummer Rob Ellis who co-produced with Calvi.
She said she chose him based on their mutual love of classical music. Two of her favourite composers are Ravel and Stravinsky.
"That's really unusual in this rock world to have a producer that's got so much knowledge in that area of music so I thought it would be a really good combination and it was," she said.
Surprisingly, Calvi -- who travels to Australia, New Zealand and Japan in late January before starting to work on her sophomore record in March -- almost didn't pursue music.
She was going to go to art school until she decided to study classical, jazz, and world music.
"I started playing guitar when I was eight and I just kind of taught myself," said Calvi, who began on violin at six.
"And I loved Jimi Hendrix when I was a kid. I listened to him a lot. And the guitarist called Django Reinhardt, I really liked when I was growing. So I just played a lot. I got really obsessed with the instrument. It's more like it's part of me. It doesn't feel like a separate entity anymore."
And she hopes, one day, she won't be called a female guitarist but just a guitarist.
"I think women who are artists should just be called artists. As if gender has anything to do with your worth as a creator. That's what I find difficult sometimes. But you know hopefully in time that will just disintegrate and humans will be known as artists. I hope that women continue to pick up the guitar and make it their own. It shouldn't be a gender-specific instrument."
Calvi expresses her passion for music
British singer-songwriter Anna Calvi not only sounds cool but she looks it too.
How did her sound develop?
"I just like to imagine my guitar as other things than a guitar," she said. "I imagine it's a string section or it's an orchestra. It's just a way to get interesting textures using my hands as opposed to lots of (foot) pedals. And I like guitar playing where every note feels very important. It's about the way the note is played, rather than just the choice of notes. I suppose someone who does that would be Miles Davis where every single note is really beautifully played and that's the kind of playing that I aspire to."
As for her flamenco-inspired stage clothes, complete with red lipstick and hair pulled back -- it's all part of her carefully designed presentation.
"For me, I really wanted to express the passion in the music through my outfits which is just what I took inspiration through with flamenco outfits because I think they really express the drama and romance of that kind of music."
ANNA CALVI CANADIAN TOUR DATES:
December 8 -- Toronto @ Lee's Palace
December 10 -- Montreal @ Cabaret Mile End
jane.stevenson@sunmedia.ca
