Run-Rioter Adam Bloodworth talks to the ''quintessentially English Joni Mitchell'' Olivia Chaney ahead of her EP release.

‘I feel like a rebel with no particular cause’ chimes Olivia Chaney on ‘Back Garden Beautiful’, from her new EP, which she launches next Friday 22nd Feb at London’s King’s Place. The EP and subsequent album have been a long time coming for the folk starlet, who in recent past has held her own on tour with greats such as Zero 7. 

Critically hailed for a unique contribution to the modern folk scene, Chaney often incorporates the aloof Indian Harmonium into her work; which both restrains and intensifies her sound. She explains, ‘(being) limited to chords and drones with one hand enforces simplicity and directness that’s grounding’.

This interest in empirical truth is communicated elsewhere on the EP, and ‘Swimming In The Longest River’’s soft yet dictatorial lyricisms are the product of a need to communicate clearly, ‘(it) had a lot of layers in production – more effects, reverb, harp, more cello, more harmonium… we ended up paring it down to its rawest state to try and let the songs and my voice speak for themselves – to sort of create a feeling that as a listener you are eavesdropping.’

Photos by Simon Wisbey

Simplicity speaks volumes, then, but it would be a mistake to confuse lateral production qualities with Chaney’s subjects, which she describes as often ‘offsetting innocence with innocence lost and the murky place between.’

Severe stuff, but this clarity of production mustn’t be mistaken for a lack of depth. ‘(I) sort of get bored of people accusing me of not being dark enough’, Chaney says of her sound, and particularly citing ‘The King’s Horses’; ‘mine might sound conventional or wistful on the surface, but to me it’s got a power and is unique, because there’s only one me and I feel things powerfully.’

The track, which plays with popular nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty, is a perfect testament to this simple power Chaney lays claim to. Influenced by childhood fable and mythology and the elasticity between the two, it carries an opulence which never shies away from the hard facts of misery and the pangs of maturity. Any apparent light-hearted schmaltz is on second listen emblazoned imagery, recalling harder times.

Another EP track, ‘Swimming In The Longest River’, seemed to me the darkest point of this work, and Chaney agrees, ‘it’s partly about struggle with denial – repression – our unconscious urges’, she retorts when I ask for more information about the lyric ‘…I would come up for air/ But lately my lungs have expanded/ I’ve developed gills.’

Clearly, Olivia Chaney is still swimming in the longest river, journeying somewhere amidst life’s various zests. And this journeying leaves no room for flash-in-the-pan success: Olivia insists on content over style; ‘old fashioned and moving’ over ‘hip and void in a few years.’ I’m not sure this distinction is entirely encompassing of the scene, but I understand her point. 

I ask Chaney about her dream festival collaborations. ‘Glastonbury with Fleetwood Mac? - Duo with Stevie Nicks? Or a solo slot will do’, she riffs. She nominates other artists she’d love to work with in any environment; Kate Bush, Margarate O’Hara, Laurie Anderson and Brian Ferry any day. Brian Eno, too, ‘he’s a really different musical brain.’

Soon after the EP, there’s an album ready to go and a summer festival circuit within reach. To liken Chaney to her own description of ‘Imperfection’, 2013 sees her very much ‘on the brink’.

See Olivia launch her EP at King's Place on 22nd February here or at Bookslam on 28th February here.