Features Porcelain Raft: Chapter One

Last year, under the banner of Porcelain Raft, Rome-born Maura Remiddi leaped onto the musical map with a handful of recordings that were delicate, dusty, and delightful – and were topped off with his sublime, serene, pure vocals. ‘Tip Of Your Tongue’ quickly planted itself on, well, the tip of every music bloggers tongues, and Remiddi delivered recording after recording. With his debut full-length due out on 24th January, and a European tour supporting M83 in the build-up to it, we caught up with Mauro to discuss the album, the tour, and why differentiating between ‘demos’ and ‘official’ versions is a load of old rubbish. 

Hello Mauro, how have the past few months been for you? 
I’ve been making some videos and rehearsing mainly. On stage I’ll be joined by Michael Wallace (ex-Women), he plays drums and synths. We have been practicing the new songs and it all sounds very exciting.

Your debut album gets its release in January. How will it compare to your work to date? Will it continue the ‘bedroom’ feel that has been talked about before?
I would say my past work can be considered a Preface, whilst I see the album more like Chapter One. Both part of the same book. The ‘bedroom’ feel is there because I recorded my tracks in a bedroom in London. In that sense it wasn’t a choice of ‘style’. That was the only place I could record. The music shapes itself around the limits of a bedroom studio. Those limits can make the music unique though. I like to work with what there is in front of me. It’s a challenge. It makes things interesting. In that sense the album sounds different because I recorded it in a basement in NYC – new space, new city and different instruments. I wrote the songs and recorded them in the basement. I stayed there two months. Chris Coady mixed it – this time I felt I needed a fresh talented mind like Chris’ to make the details of the tracks stand out more. I would say the album is a snapshot. It has a very defined timeframe, that’s why is called ‘Strange Weekend’. Whatever happened in those two days. As I said, it’s a chapter of a very long book.

You’re touring with M83 throughout January, February, and March. How did that come about and how are you looking forward to being on the road for so long?
I’ve been asked to open for M83, I love his new album and I’m very excited to start this adventure. This time Michael will be on the road with me, we’ll have a driver as well. I’m just looking forward to play the new songs live with Michael.

Some musicians like to surround themselves with music when writing, whereas others prefer to lock their influences away. What’s your personal song-writing preference? How do you get yourself focused?
At first I felt a bit embarrassed to say it… but I don’t care anymore. I have an IPOD, on this IPOD there’s my EP ‘Gone Blind’ and my album ‘Strange Weekend’. Then I have all Throbbing Gristle’s discography and the album ‘Forget’ by Oupa. 99% of the time I listen to my music. That’s the reason why I record my things in the first place! The process of writing and recording is very quick, I don’t plan anything. So it’s such a surprise for me to listen back to my music, like painting blindfolded and then looking at your canvas discovering shapes you couldn’t see while painting. I listen to my music often to understand where I’m at.

Your EP got a strong critical reception and, although the album isn’t out yet, it’s likely to get attention and reviews from nearly all of the ‘major’ music websites. How much attention do you pay to reviews, and how important is the opinion of music writers to you?
I would happily read reviews of my live shows and tracks in general. I’m just curious to know if what I wanted to go through went through. Some bad reviews for example talked about how pointless is to play those full-on sounding tracks by myself, as a one-man band but that’s exactly what I liked about it at that time. So even if the review was bad I’m happy because that aspect of what I’m doing was visible – badly received, but visible. Reviews have a short lifespan. Let’s put it in this way, these writers will have kids at some point maybe, and those kids may buy some of your records, regardless of what their parents wrote about you.

Do you ever dwell on your past recordings and wish you’d done things differently, or do you move on entirely once a track is recorded and finished?
I feel the recording itself is the thing. You don’t record a demo; you don’t record the ‘official’ version. Those are terms created by record labels. You record and that recording is the thing you made. It’s up to you if you want to share it or not.

Are you ambitious with your plans in the sense that you’d quite like lots of people to hear your music, or is people enjoying your songs just an added bonus to you making the art that you want to make?
An artist doesn’t exist in a vacuum. You need people to listen to your music, you need to confront yourself. You need to open the room of your bedroom and let fresh air in and especially let your music go where it’s meant to be.

A few months back you covered Nirvana, whose sound is one most people would probably not have linked with yours. How was it morphing a dirty, grungy song to how you did?
Since Kurt Cobain died I never listen to any of their recordings. I was quite upset. Something happened last Christmas though. I was recording ‘Amateurs Feeling’, but I had to leave my room (I was moving to NY where I live now). I had just few days left to record before moving. I don’t know why I started playing those chords and singing ‘Come As You Are’. I pressed REC on the laptop and recorded it in one take. It had to happen in order for me to listen again to those incredible songs Kurt wrote. 

Have there been many albums out this year that you’ve really felt a connection with?
…mmm. The only album I’ve been listening is ‘Forget’ by Oupa. Also, I love Dirty Beaches EP, and the Youth Lagoon album is very good as well. Ah! – and I saw Grimes playing live recently, she is amazing.

You can catch Porcelain Raft on tour with M83 at the following UK dates:

JANUARY
17 Bristol, England - Trinity (w/ M83)
18 Manchester, England - Ritz (w/ M83)
19 Glasgow, Scotland - The Arches (w/ M83)
20 Leeds, England - Cockpit (w/ M83)
21 Birmingham, England - HMV Institute (w/ M83)
22 Brighton, England - Concorde (w/ M83)

FEBRUARY
16 London, England - Shepherds Bush Empire (w/ M83)