Singer-songwriter CLOVER is set to release her debut EP, Atlas, on May 30. Recorded at Electric Lady Studios with producer John Rooney, the EP blends folk, pop, and soul, drawing inspiration from artists like Lake Street Dive and Carole King. A fiercely independent artist, CLOVER turned down The Voice to stay true to her vision, performing at NYC and Philadelphia venues while championing sustainability and female empowerment. Atlas captures her journey of love, adventure, and self-discovery, shaped by a year-long, cross-country busking experience and a commitment to artistic authenticity. We caught up with CLOVER to discuss songwriting and the studio process.
Q: In your opinion, what are the essential qualities that make a “good songwriter”?
A good songwriter is someone who can be honest with themself - even when it is scary, or hurts, or makes their head spin with fear of how they will be perceived.
A good songwriter is a risk-taker.
A good songwriter has the ability to put words or sonic expressions to something the listener has always felt, but never known how to say.
A good songwriter unapologetically shares their humanness.
Q: What is the basis for writing attention-grabbing music in this day and age?
These days, a lot of people are turning towards writing music that cuts through the noise by having lots of high frequencies, shocking sounds, or quick drastic changes. Those strategies can be effective, but I always tend to lean into grabbing people’s attention through emotional connection. As humans, we feel so much! If an artist can write something about a common emotion (especially one that is often shamed or seen as taboo) and really tap into the deepest truth of that emotion, I find that to be incredibly captivating.
Q: Can you pinpoint some specific songs and songwriters that changed the way you write music?
Ahhh so many… but I’ll try to name just a few:
Growing up, my house was always filled with songs from The Crying Light by Antony and The Johnsons, now known as ANOHNI. I felt so connected to the piano ballads, dark fairytale-esque storytelling, and the one of a kind voice that is ANOHNI.
When I heard Regina Spektor’s song “Us” at 13 years old, I felt compelled to start writing music. Her songwriting is quirky, unconventional, expressive, and risky. As a young person, that was super appealing to me because it was so playful and I wanted to play… well, now as an older young person I still want to play :)
In highschool, I started listening to Sara Bareilles. I specifically remember “Love Song” and “Bottle It Up” encouraging me to continue writing honest and emotional songs, but also dip my toes into writing more pop-oriented music. Both Regina and Sara made me feel safe in a “towing the line of pop music, but not diving in” kind of way.
I saw Lake Street Dive perform at XPoNential Music Festival (Camden, NJ across from Philly) in 2014, and that was when I started to hear how groove could enter the chat. I had mostly written piano ballads up until this point and felt so uncertain of how drums would find their place in my music. I love soul music, and Lake Street Dive’s retro soul sound dances together in a way that feels so aligned.
Q: Do you find it hard to be inspired by your peers? Can you name any new artists you find inspiring?
Not at all! I am constantly inspired by my peers. There are so many incredible artists out there sharing music authentically and I love seeing how different we all can be.
Most recently I came across Saya Gray’s album, SAYA, that came out in February of this year. If you haven’t listened to it yet, stop reading this and get your ears on this masterpiece.
Other artists I’m inspired by are Bridget Kearney, Adrianne Lenker, Hannah Cohen, YEBBA, Dora Jar, Maggie Rogers, Allen Stone, Leon Bridges, Hozier, Donna Missal, and Jake Wesley Rogers.
Q: For your new album, what inspired the lyrical content, album title, and overall vibe?
From start to finish, Atlas (EP) feels like a psychedelic whirlwind, touching on themes of love, grief, addiction, and the surreal yet beautiful experiences I had during the pandemic (falling in love, living in a tent for 4 months, busking on streets around the country while venues were closed, etc.).
A whole 4 years distilled into 5 songs in 20 minutes.
Inspired by Atlas, the Greek God who was forced to hold the heavens up for eternity, I wrote these songs due to feeling an overwhelming responsibility to hold the chaos of my family life in tandem with the weight of the rest of the world.
This EP is a narrative on grappling with holding chaos and deciding to what extent holding that chaos is truly our responsibility.
Q: Do you find that you ruminate over writing songs and hold on to them for a long time before including them on a record? Or do you prefer to write them, release them, and be done with them? Do you ever revisit old material to do a re-write or once it’s done it’s done?
Songwriting happens very fluidly for me… while on a hike, driving in the car, in the bathtub. I am often going back into my voice memos and finding gifts that I left for myself years ago - unfinished songs or ideas that I then take and expand upon in the present.
I don’t like to hold onto things for too long, although sometimes that’s just the way it happens. I always write songs without any expectations for outcome and eventually those songs start to shape a record on their own.
When it comes to re-writes, sometimes I find that the first version of a song might only exist in order to be transformed into something completely different, eventually becoming the final version. Sometimes a song is a stepping stone to the goldmine that exists when you flip it on its head or deconstruct it completely - keeping a single phrase, melody, or rhythm to build the new version upon. This is what happened with the title track of Atlas.
Q: Were there any lessons you learned in the writing and recording process for your current release that you will take with you into your next project?
Yes (so many!), but I’ll share 3:
When you have a group of people who trust each other and play to each other’s strengths, magical things can happen. My team for this project consisted of Dani Sundream (guitar/bass), Daniel Fresco (drums/percussion), John Rooney (engineer, producer, synths, bass), and Paul “PapaBear” Johnson (bass on “Atlas” the song). We also had amazing assistant engineers like Dani Perez and Austin Christy.
John and the Daniels feel like family to me, which made a huge difference throughout the writing & recording process. I have collaborated with people in the past who I didn’t have a deep trust established with, and those projects have felt incredibly destructive to my heart and health.
Anything is possible - I am currently a relatively small indie artist, but I got to record this project in one of the most famous recording studios in the world, with one of the most talented engineers and producers out there. How this is possible and truly happened, I still don’t fully understand… but it did and therefore ANYTHING is possible.
Everything can change in an instant… This project was originally supposed to be a full length album. Due to the unique nature of how the album was recorded at Electric Lady (coming in anytime there was a cancellation), we had to work on a very untraditional timeline. I was so excited about what we were making and decided to cut it in half so that I could release it sooner. That was a really hard decision to make, but it got us to where we are today and it just means there is even more music to look forward to in the future :)