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Thread started 01/16/15 9:02pm

tangerine7

Keep an eye out for Eliot 'Coco' Sumner

Does anyone believe Eliot has 'something' even at 24 years old, (excusing she's Sting's daughter, I love Sting's music..) I'm going to follow her and see what happens....

Doesn't that guitar look familar?

At 15 years old, Eliot Sumner [ the daughter of Sting and Trudie Styler] began writing songs like "Self Machine" under her then title "I Blame Coco," the name she would record under for the next few years. Now, at 24, Sumner is ready and dropped the pseudonym and released her first EP, Information. "I'm proud of the music I'm making, and it's time to take ownership by putting my real name on it," she said in a statement.



Here, watch the video for Information's title track, a dark, isolated scene illuminated by the headlights of facing muscle cars. "The video is a representation of the self, alone and vulnerable in a dark void," Sumner tells Rolling Stone.

"'Information' is a breakup song," she continues. "It's about not understanding the situation. With social networks these days, everyone needs to know everything, all the time. But the problem is, people are so used to short snippets of information that no one has any attention span any more. I don't, anyway. It's about a quest to know everything."

The clip was directed by photographer Eliot Lee Hazel, and the EP is out today on Cherrytree/Interscope.

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Eliot Sumner is the laid back definition of ‘cool as fuck’ – bare faced androgyny with kick-ass bass and a voice that warmly grazes the eardrums with dark tales of lost love and obsession. Long gone are the awkward heels, painted face and cute nickname that conjured up former band moniker I Blame Coco. Sumner has come into her own, and she rocks.

Eliot plays actual instruments (Vocals, guitar, drums, bass guitar, piano, synth ) and her lyrics are honest. Her voice has her father's DNA yet, she is in her own element, her natural voice is haunting..


OLD Review: while under "I Blame Coco"

The 2o-year-old singer on making it on her own, being a feral child and why nearly dying was good for her creativity

The children of famous musicians don’t always have it easy; for every Norah Jones there are a few dozen Julian Lennons. Eliot 'Coco' Sumner is hoping to buck the trend.

The daughter of Sting and Trudie Styler, she is painfully shy and self-effacing in person, but those qualities belie a fierce determination to make it on her own terms. Growing up on the family’s Wiltshire estate, she showed an early aptitude for music.

She has just released her debut album, The Constant, with her band I Blame Coco, and a single, Turn Your Back On Love, is out on February 7. Now 20, she divides her time between London and Wiltshire. Having a superstar dad hasn't helped in any way.

Being Sting’s daughter hasn’t kicked any doors open for me – he has had absolutely nothing to do with my career. It’s all been down to me so far, and that’s how I want to keep it. People are going to say, ‘She’s just the daughter of a famous pop star.’ Which is incredibly demeaning. They wrongly assume that I’m a full-time party girl who makes music in her spare time. Nothing could be further from the truth. The one certainty in this life is that I will never, ever perform a duet with sting;

There would be no reason on Earth for that to happen. He might be my dad, but we occupy entirely different musical universes. I’ve hardly talked to him about my music. When he listened to my album he simply gave me the thumbs up and that was the end of it. I don't take money from my parents - I fight to be financially independent.

Self-sufficiency is vitally important to my self-respect. I never wanted to rely on my parents in that way, because I knew that if I got used to it I’d be reliant all my life. Every day of my life someone will tell me that I’ve had it too easy. It’s an annoying misconception but I’ve learnt to live with it. Nearly dying has been good for my creativity.

In 2009 I fractured my skull in a freak accident at an LA restaurant. I suffered a seizure and was rushed into hospital. I was so out of it that I refused to let them scan my brain. My dad rushed to my bedside and talked me into having the CAT scan – he told me that I might die if I didn’t go through with it. After four days in intensive care, I was put on heavy medication. The medication put me in the right state of mind to write songs.

My first ambition was to be a bank robber.

I wanted to be a proper gangster’s moll with a tommy gun under my arm, speeding away from banks with the police in hot pursuit. There’s still a part of me that would love to live that life. I’ll see how my album does – it’s always good to have something to fall back on.

I’d like to have Ian Dury’s face.

His face always told an interesting story. As a kid I loved to dress up as Ian Dury and run around hitting people with drumsticks. Members of my family, neighbours, friends, kids at school – no one was safe from my rhythm sticks. I didn’t see it as annoying – I figured that it was the sort of thing that Ian Dury would have done as a kid. I wore the braces, glasses, the whole Ian Dury look. I couldn’t imagine anything cooler in the entire world. As for me now, I try to avoid mirrors as much as I can.

I have absolutely no sense of smell.

That’s one of the side effects of my seizure. It sounds like a terrible thing, but I think it’s brilliant. Apart from the smell of bacon, petrol and my home-made shepherd’s pie, there’s nothing I miss. Obviously, having no smell has its potential drawbacks. If there was a fire in my house I wouldn’t get any early warning signs. Apart from that, I have no problems with it. My sense of smell may come back eventually, but I’m not that bothered. If it does come back I think I’ll find it too strange.

I started my career in the big top.

From the ages of 11 to 14 I worked in a circus and it was the best of times. Mostly I did stunts, falling off horses and goofy things like that. I’d have liked to have been the person who got in the cage with lions, but unfortunately there were no lions at this circus. It defeats the object, doesn’t it? One of the main reasons for going to a circus is to see whether anyone gets eaten by a lion.

I was a feral child.

As a kid my idea of fun was to make my own bow and arrow, then go out into the fields and kill chickens. It was fun to do, but I remember crying afterwards. Looking back, I was a fairly mischievous kid. I believe that children should do what they want so long as they don’t get caught.

My music is like an amazing pub that nobody else has heard about.

My life has been about music from the age of four, when my dad bought me my first guitar. Music is in my bones and my blood. It’s my oxygen. Growing up it was my little secret. Not because I was afraid it would be compared to my dad’s work. It was more a case that music was a world that I escaped into, and I feared that if I let anyone else in, they would ruin it. Now I’m finally ready to share my secret world.

I love playing my music under bridges and in hairdressers’.

The weirdest places to play music are the best. One time I organised an event under the bridge in Waterloo’s Cardboard City. I’ve done gigs in offices. I would perform every month at a hairdressing salon on Kentish Town Road, London. A buzz started up and that attracted the record companies, so I got signed.

Apart from music just about everything makes me nervous.

I find the most comfort in discomfort. I thrive on anxiety. On a creative level I need to feel edgy and insecure. That’s when I’m most at peace. To create anything I need to be in isolation and put myself in a slightly scary place, where all my senses are on edge.

Fame is just embarrassing.

I grew up with a famous dad, but I never thought of him as a celebrity. He was just my dad. We had a completely normal upbringing. It wasn’t as if Eric Clapton and David Bowie were popping round for tea every day. I grew up with no interest in fame and that’s how I’ve remained. I once did a Burberry campaign with Agyness Deyn, and afterwards if I walked past a shop with a huge poster of me in the window I’d die of embarrassment.

I was killed by Michelle Pfeiffer.

I was an extra in the film Stardust. She stabbed me in the chest, then cut my head off. It wasn’t a big role, but the least you can say about it is that it was memorable.

By the time I was nine I knew the chords to every Sex Pistols song.

I was a quick learner. It’s not much of an achievement when you consider that there are only three chords to learn, but it was important to me. I was always more of a punk than a hippy. I liked the idea of rebellion. Like most kids, I wanted to swear at teachers and generally be disruptive. I was shy and emotionally extreme. Punk gave me something to identify with.

Releasing my album feels like it’s my first year at school and it’s the first piece of homework I’m handing in.

I’ve spent my entire life building up to this moment and it’s an incredible release. It feels strange to have it finally out there, but it’s a good feeling. This is the beginning of what I hope will be a long and great adventure. It’s terrifying.

Eliot Sumner Live @Hammersmith Apollo, London, 13/11/14)

Interview

I find Eliot Sumner in her favourite old man’s pub. She reserved at first, a bit mumbly, but polite and warm. Her face is intense; beautiful and stern-looking. You can see precisely why the fashion industry fell in love with her when she first came onto the scene as I Blame Coco – a moniker derived from a childhood nickname – four years ago.

Signed to Island Records at just seventeen, Sumner’s first album, The Constant, earned her a tribe of teenage fans and a collaboration with godmother of Swedish pop, Robyn. It’s been four years, though, and her sound has completely changed. She’s still making pacey indie pop, though without I Blame Coco’s nod to summery Ska (remember 18 With A Bullet?). This time around, tracks like Come Friday and Wobbler are hard and fast, her voice is deeper and matured, the songs full and layered. It’s clear her confidence has grown everywhere, from songwriting to playing her instruments.

With a new EP, Information, out now, we meet to talk about the future. She orders us a pint at the bar, the staff treat her like a regular. It’s easy toimagine her quietly sipping her favourite German lager and keeping it real in a pub like this.

Where have you been for the past four years? You kind of just vanished.

Well, I’ve been writing. Now I’m at a place where I’m ready to start releasing music again. I’m in a really good headspace and I feel more focused. I’ve had time to grow up a little bit, too, which was important.

Do you feel like you were thrust into it last time or were you just young and naïve?

I think I was just quite young. I don’t regret anything but one of the things I will say is that I was too young to put my foot down. Nobody asked me if I wanted to do certain things and so I went with the flow. This time round it will be a lot more fun because I’ll be doing stuff I want to do.

What’s different, musically?

I’m more proud of the music I’m making now. I think it’s more relevant to who I am as a person and that it’s matured a little bit. But that was always going to happen. I think I’m better at writing songs now than I was four years ago, both naturally and with practice.

What have you been writing about?

Life stuff. Fictional stuff. I think breakups produce quite profound emotions and are good to write songs about. I always try to find positive ways out of anything that’s bothering me or makes me sad – it’s a good outlet to have and very therapeutic. I think that if I didn’t have a musical outlet then things would be different. I’d probably be angry. Or a painter.

What about your new song, Information, is that about a breakup?

Information is a song about a relationship in its last month, when you both know it’s pretty much ended but no one’s saying anything direct. So there’s no information. It’s about wanting to know what’s going on in the other person’s mind.

When you listen to your last album, The Constant, what do you think?

That it sounds very young. I do love some of the songs though. I’m re-recording Self Machine, partly because the original production of that song was a lot more organic, so I think I owe it to the song to rerelease it how it should have been recorded in the first place. Also, it’s quite a nice transition from my old stuff to the new stuff.

Do you think you have a specific fan base that will carry over?

I’m not too sure. I’ve been out of the loop so I wouldn’t be surprised if people have been a bit “whatever”. But I also think that people who were my age and listening to my music four years ago have grown up and maybe their taste has matured in the same way mine has.

How has your taste matured? What have you been listening to?

I’ve been listening to a lot of Krautrock, classical music, lots of Nick Cave. I really like Wild Beasts and have been following them for quite a while – we share the same touring crew. I’ve also been listening to really left-field industrial drone music. Just noise basically. Not the kind of music you’d put on for a dinner party.

Do you go and see live music much?

When I can, and when I know it’s going to be awesome. I saw Lykke Li at Village Underground the other day. I really like her, as a person too. We met maybe four years ago in Gothenburg and we’ve been friends ever since then. The Swedish are very direct, which is good. I don’t like small talk.

What were you doing in Gothenburg?

I was presenting a Swedish music award, in Swedish. I’ve never been asked to present an award to anyone before and I couldn’t pronounce the name of the winner! But I can speak a little bit of Swedish [says something indecipherable in Swedish]. I lived there for a while when I was making my first record and I found the language very melodic and interesting. Learning languages is my favourite hobby.

Strangely, I saw you on an EasyJet flight from Vienna to Gatwick a couple of weeks ago on a Monday night. What were you up to?

Oh yeah? I was there for 24 hours because my other half had a dentist appointment and she’s not a very good flyer. So I was the flying buddy. You should have come and said hello!

Nobody wants to talk to strangers on a plane. But yeah, next time I’ll come and say hi. Do you always fly Easy Jet?

Yes, ha, if it’s necessary. I much prefer EasyJet to RyanAir. I’m not going to fly Ryan Air again. When I was touring we used to have to use RyanAir it a lot, and I got one to Berlin for New Year. It annoys me because their system just doesn’t work. It’s so disorganised! I like Lufthansa. Lufthansa is my favourite European Airline.

Sophisticated! So what else is going on work-wise? I heard you’ve been doing some film music?

I worked on a film called Filth last year with James McAvoy and Jim Broadbent. It’s quite heavy, but in a very humourous way. I did the last song, at the end, a cover of Radiohead’s Creep with Clint Mansell. I don’t want to give away the ending but it’s quite dark [makes hand gesture of someone hanging themself].

I think that if I didn’t have a musical outlet then things would be different. I’d probably be angry. Or a painter.

Eliot Sumner Creep ( Radiohead Cover)

What are your favourite films?

There’s a question. Umm, The Jungle Book is one of my favourite films. The music’s good, the characters are great, it’s got a good story. I have other favourites as well… that aren’t as immature.

Disney films often have quite grown up subtexts, though.

Yeah. Fantasia’s a piece of genius. The most recent films I really liked were Grand Budapest Hotel and Wolf of Wall Street.

So are film scores something you’d like to work on more?

Yes, very much. I love working on films. I think if I got an offer to do anything Iwould… ok not anything. But it’s what I’d like to end up doing one day, rather than touring, talking and showing my face.

But you used to do quite a lot of modelling? Would you not do more of that?

I did a bit in my youth. Having my picture taken makes me a bit nervous and most of the clothes they make me wear usually aren’t my cup of tea. I’m too short really anyway.

How tall are you?

5”8

Well I’m so short that I thought you were quite tall.

Short people are the rulers of the world.

Really? Like who?

Umm. Sarkozy… Berlusconi….

I don’t find that very comforting. What about social media, do you do that? I feel like you would hate it.

I think people these days are so obsessed with information and knowing everything possible about something. Twitter makes me a bit sick really. I don’t have a Twitter. I tried it out for a few weeks or so and everything I’d write came across as sarcastic or made me sound like a bit of a dick. It’s useful for political stuff or news stuff I suppose, but for someone walking down the street saying, “I’m eating a sandwich”, it just doesn’t mean anything. I like Instagram. It’s fun because you can get the tone immediately.

I know it’s annoying to talk about it so I’m going to ask in the most circuitous way I can think of, but does everyone always bring up your dad at some point, like I am right now?

People do bring it up a lot. It bothers me when it’s persistent. It is what it is. It’s one of those challenges to overcome, to release music without having that, what’s the word? Comparison. I do think it’s fair though, because everyone wants and needs a reference.

Are you close with your family?

Yeah, there are six kids. We’re a big family. We all technically live in New York but two of them are in LA. I have a place in Brooklyn I bought two years ago, but I mainly just rent it out because I can’t be there at the moment. But I think I’m sort of planning to move back in September.

Why “sort of”?

I’ll never really “move” anywhere. I’m a bit of a nomad. Like, I can’t stay in one place or settle anywhere. For me touring is perfect because you’re scheduled to be in a different place all the time. Everything for me is always temporary, my bag is always packed. It’s very difficult for me to hang things up.

How do you find New York compared to London?

I really like New York. It seems a lot smaller in the way that there’s a real sense of community there. Everyone’s willing to help each other out. In London people are very afraid to look one another in the eye if they’re strangers and in New York you get people coming up to you and just talking to you.

But you don’t strike me as the kind of person who would want to get recognised.

It’s funny, if I’m walking down the street I don’t want anyone to notice I’m there, but when I’m on stage I just want everyone to be looking at me. I think the stage character is like a caricature of myself, or something. Sometimes, though, I wish that people didn’t acknowledge me at all. I’m quite a shy person and a little self conscious and paranoid. But it’s something I’m working on.

How?

Just by growing up and being myself.

Check out Eliot Sumner's EP on Soundcloud

http://soundcloud.com/eliotsumner


Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/e...umnermusic

tumblr: http://sumner-eliot.tumblr.com/

Official site: http://eliotsumner.com/

Intagram: http://instagram.com/eliotsumner2

Twitter: http://twitter.com/eliotsumner

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/iblamecoco

VEVO: http://www.youtube.com/us...SumnerVEVO

[Edited 1/17/15 1:21am]

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Reply #1 posted 01/16/15 11:14pm

tangerine7


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