Nirvana, PJ Harvey and Pixies album producer Steve Albini calls Kiwi chanteuse Leila Adu “spooky Adu”, a label she is happy to wear as she returns home from years abroad building a music career.
WHAT’S with Joan of Arc?
Kiwi singer Leila Adu has been a longtime fan of the French heroine and called her latest album Dark Joan in memory of her.
“I was inspired by the thought of a modern day Joan of Arc,” says Adu.
Not that Adu considers herself one, however she does identify closely with the saint’s determination: “You have to keep true to what you believe in.”
The fact that Joan of Arc heard voices in her head is more “inspiring” than odd to Adu, and after she made the album that she had an even closer link to Joan.
“In Italy everyone has their saint’s day, my birthday is her saint’s day.”
Adu, who was born in London, went to school in Christchurch when she was four. Like her grandmother, father and half brother, she had a natural affinity for music and went on to study at Victoria University majoring in composition and specialising in electronic-acoustic music.
Dad and bro play in bands respectively, and Gran was a choir conductor.
The combination of natural talent and a gorgeous complexion (half Ghanaian-half Pakeha) have worked in the young woman’s favour.
Prior to settling in Italy, Adu lived in London where she got her big break. A friend of hers, Giddy Motors, had recently made an album with Steve Albini – who produced Pixies, Breeders, PJ Harvey and Nirvana albums – and sent a copy of Adu’s music to him.
And guess what? “He was into it.”
“He is a perfectionist with all his gear and sound,” says Adu. “His expertise is in analogue and everything is recorded to tape. He just captured what was there.”
The Albini collaboration was a dream come true for “Creepy Adu”, as Albini calls her, because she grew up listening to PJ Harvey and Nirvana.
And even more exciting was recording in Albini’s studio next door to Kim Deal from the Pixies and the Breeders.
Adu will perform songs from her latest album Dark Joan in Wellington this week before she jets off to the States for two months where she will be playing a festival in New York and support for a couple of bands.
Adu is unsure if and when she will return to New Zealand, as being away so long has split her loyalty.
“I’d like to live between Europe and New Zealand in an ideal world,” says Adu. “In Europe it is so much easier to travel but New Zealand is so beautiful.”
Leila Adu, featuring David Long, Jeff Henderson and Chris O’Connor, Crown Julz and The 24 Carats, San Francisco Bathhouse, May 2.