It’s amazing how swiftly Terri Walker’s new single with fast-rising London DJ-producer S.Chu came together. The lick, Closure, is out next week and brought the pair together for the first time to record it just a few months ago. They got on like a proverbial house on fire, as Defected’s Ben Lovett found out.
“I had a previous link to Chu’s manager and he suggested the project.” singer-songwriter Walker opens. “I loved Chu’s production when I heard it and definitely thought I could work with him. I came into the studio to meet him, had a sandwich and then threw in some lyrics and melodies. It all came together really easily.”
There wasn’t the faintest whiff of artistic friction, Chu and Walker finding their range with one another in minutes; and then some.... “It was crazy” she takes up. “We’d never met before but we learnt quickly about one another. We just clicked; this great dynamic suddenly sprung up. He has this amazing knowledge of how best to use sounds and textures, and that complimented what I was doing in terms of the songwriting and performing.”
Chu, real name Simon Chue, has music thick in his blood. His energetic output alongside brother Jason ‘Wookie’ Chue as garage duo Exemen has propelled him confidently on to recent cult house productions for Strictly Rhythm and Copyright Recordings (the latter, last February’s afro-tech bomb Oh My featured Mila Falls). “Aside from the music, he’s just a really nice guy” Walker says. “We get along, to the point now that I would do anything to help him.”
Closure is a beautifully understated soul-house slow burn, draping Walker’s sincere vocals about the need for post-relationship finality over deep drums, hazy synths and the most delicate of piano lines. It’s a classy slice of dance music. “I always need ideas to talk beautifully to me” she grins. “A feeling has to hit me if I’m going to work with something. There were massively strong feelings with Closure. And it doesn’t only have to be about love. I think the song can mean so many things, which makes it even more compelling for people.”
Of course, Walker has poured her own experiences into the record – an absolute prerequisite. “There’s no right way to make music and I admire the artists who are able to make situations up and soundtrack them so effectively. For me, however, I can’t make anything up; all of it has to come from my heart and life. I have to experience things before I can use them. It often then follows that your audience can relate to that truth; the early reactions to Closure seem to back that up.”
Walker’s studio mindset is a fluid one, adapting where needed to help deliver the best possible results. “Sometimes the lyrics come first; other times it’s the melodies,” she explains. “Sometimes, I can have a long delay before I’m able to complete something well.” She is, in turn, renowned for traversing genres. If her fledgling career embraced soul and R&B, then it has matured to further develop those sounds alongside those of an electronic and largely uptempo persuasion.
“What I like about house music today is the focus on lyrics; the lyrics are really coming through. This is ensuring that the tracks stand out, otherwise as much as I love instrumental dance it can veer towards becoming repetitive. It’s [clubland] a completely different scene to the soul singer-songwriter one. There, the lyrics and groove have always been a prominent partnership. The switching between genres allows me to push myself harder as an artist.”
Remarkably, Walker – birth name Chanelle Gstettenbauer - grew up in a family environment with little connection to music: “My family wasn’t a musical family. I did find out that my cousins, on my dad’s side, are involved in music but I wasn’t around them when I was growing up.” Her pre-teen and adolescent rites of passage took her from England to Germany and then back, at which point she joined a boarding school in Surrey (though still officially living in Germany) to be classically trained and learn song craft. She would progress to the renowned Italia Conti Academy Of Theatre Arts, where, aged 17, she honed her classical education, performed opera and involved herself in live performance.
By 18, Walker had left Italia Conti with the ambition of stretching her professional wings. “The classical training has proved invaluable” she stresses. “Having that discipline...it’s important in the modern music industry. And then there’s all the stuff like learning how to pronounce properly when singing, and breathe properly. It gives you an edge. I left only because I wanted to develop a rawer, more organic sound for myself; I wanted to find my own way.”
Much has followed since - collaborations with early ‘UK garage’ artists 187 Lockdown, TNT and Shanks & Bigfoot, not to mention Mos Def, Lisa Stansfield and Buzzin’ Fly’s Ben Watt; a contract with major-backed imprint Def Soul (aligned to Def Jam and Mercury); albums Untitled (Walker’s critically acclaimed 2003 debut), L.O.V.E and I Am (the latter independently released); and, in the most recent years, hit singles alongside T Williams (Heartbeat) and Artful & Ridney (Missing You) as well as mixtape Matters Of The Heart, featuring collaborations with Brackles, Williams and Donae’O. In 2013, Walker released a classic soul album with US singer Nicole Wray as Lady, worked with soulful house purists The Layabouts (track Here With You) and re-launched the Defected-aligned Soul Heaven label in some style via Donae’O-produced single He Loves Me.
Unsurprisingly she has plenty on for the forthcoming year, starting with a brand new solo album shaped alongside Swindle, Toddla T, Andy Nicholson, original bassist for the Arctic Monkeys, Joe Buhdha and Baby J, whose CV include Amy Winehouse. Walker has also been recording with Blur legend Damon Albarn but it’s yet to be confirmed if their “classic” (Walker’s description on Twitter) tag-team will be part of this project or another. Either way, exciting times lie ahead.
“I had to put Lady to one side” Walker confesses, “but Nicole and I are all good. It’s just that I needed to focus on the album; it’s really important to me and totally exciting. It’s hard to describe the sound, kinda like a mix of Commitments-style soul and Rick Rubin-style hip-hop. I’m organising distribution as we speak, and with all being well it should land late this year.”
Organising distribution is absolutely right, for Walker is her own boss these days - she resolutely manages herself. “It’s crazy for me because there are so many different elements to consider...so many outlets like digital and social” she begins, “but I’m having a great time. Major labels really aren’t the be all and end all and I think the industry has changed with that in mind. There was a time before when everything was dominated by the majors; I felt it myself when I had my own major deal..it was like they were trying to push me in a direction I wasn’t comfortable with. I don’t have those distractions and pressures anymore. It’s made me a more honest artist. I can fully control my ideas and that’s really fulfilling, if also more tiring!”
Walker is determined to maintain her high level of productive autonomy. Beyond the new album already lies work on another helmed by renowned producer Salaam Remi (Nas, Winehouse) and inspired by Bossa Nova. The pair first hooked up in 2008 on Remi side project Champagne Flutes. Walker is also working on a new live show. “PAs can be so impersonal, particularly in the club space” she suggests. “Years ago, I used to perform with an 11-piece band; it was a big production. I’m looking to get back to that experience. Ultimately, I’ve always seen myself as more musician than artist. My voice is an instrument and the buzz comes from giving it the platform to try different sounds, rhythms, styles....”
Walker’s thoughts have returned to Closure. “Obviously the album will be my major focus in 2014” she enthuses, “but I’m planning to carry on with the other bits and pieces too, as I like to do. The Closure track has been so much fun. Operating between different genres gives me a lot of freedom and inspiration, and house music is particularly exciting me right now; all of that feeds into the other things I’m working on. I absolutely love house music right now. It was only a couple of weeks ago that I realised the Masters At Work had remixed one of my tracks from back in the day [Louie Vega’s remix of 2003 single Ching Ching]. That was a cool moment, which made me think it’s kinda like always been my destiny to be involved with dance music and belong in different musical camps all at the same time.”
Walker hasn’t quite finished our interview. “I want to take over the world...techno, pop, house, soul, everything” she beams, before laughing. “Seriously though, I have such a thirst for music; I just want to keep doing more and more. Whether I’m doing something solo, working on an equal footing with another artist, or simply providing vocals for someone else’s track, none of it really concerns me. Some singers worry about being sidelined but I’ve never had that problem because I know it’s my voice and if I sing to the best of my ability then so will everyone else. Anyway, being that I manage myself, I ensure that I work on the music that I want to and that suits me best. What with Closure picking up plays and my album finally coming together I really can’t complain about anything at the moment.”
Life for Mz Walker couldn’t be sweeter....
Words: Ben Lovett
Closure is out 3rd February on Defected Records
