Gloria de Oliveira’s songwriting seems to construct entire realms with just a few notes. The Brazilian-German artist relishes subtlety, and recently combined with producer – known for his work with Anna von Hausswolf, Marissa Nadler and beyond – to forge something new.
Out now, ‘The Lying Swans’ sits at the point of congruence between myth and poetry, between personal revelation and hypnotic visions. Crisp songwriting that is at time feather soft, and at others intense and gothic, the album is a song cycle that pushes Gloria to some unusual places.
An exquisite lyricist, there is evidently a literary flair to Gloria de Oliveira’s work, with her compelling word play emphasising and accruing her world-building capabilities.
CLASH sat down with Gloria de Oliveira to discuss the contents of her book shelve for another edition of Their Library.
What is your favourite book and why?
Cannot narrow it down to one! Some longtime favourites that first introduced me to the power of literature are The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter and Narziss & Goldmund by Hermann Hesse.
What other authors do you like?
Cecilia Meireles, Anne Sexton, Clarice Lispector, Anaïs Nin, Florbela Espanca, Rainer Maria Rilke, the Brontë sisters, Shirley Jackson, Ingeborg Bachmann Edgar Allan Poe, Else Lasker Schueler, Charles Baudelaire
What draws you to certain books?
Hard do describe, I know it when I see it. I can’t lie, even though they say not to judge a book by its cover, the visual can definitely play a role – I recently returned from Rio with a large suitcase full of books I acquired mainly because of the stunning artwork. Brazilian editions (such as by the publishing house Âyiné) are lovely in general.
Have you ever discovered a real lost classic? What is it and why?
Valerie a týden divů by Vítězslav Nezval. Everybody knows the cult film adaptation from the 1970s, but the book it’s based on from the 1930s seems hardly known outside of the Czech Republic. I read about it somewhere online when I was 16 and immediately ordered a really beautiful edition from Twisted Spoon Press that also included some of Nezval’s surrealist poetry, which really had an impact on me. A formative experience.
Do your literary influences have a direct impact on your songwriting?
Very much so. All my albums have a myriad of direct and indirect references to poetry and literature. references Dante’s Inferno, poetry by John Keats, Anne Sexton and Emily Brontë – Lenny, who plays all guitars on the album, gifted me a beautiful collection of the latter’s poetry a few years back that I draw from a lot. The album cover itself references the 1970s pulp fiction paperback genre Women Running From Houses.
What are you reading at the moment?
Late Brazilian rock icon Rita Lee’s autobiography.
What is the first book you remember reading as a child?
There is this book called Gruselmärchen byBarbara Bartos-Höppner, which literally translates to “spooky fairytales”.
I think that one changed my brain chemistry, or maybe my brain was that way straight out of the womb therefore I gravitated towards it. This was before I could even read by myself, so I made my older sister or mom read it to me every night, I was truly obsessed. When I re-read it as an adult my hairs stood on end, it’s actually very frightening. I would have to sleep with the lights on if someone were to read it to me before bedtime now. But it is said that children have a different relationship to these things, as for them, the veil between worlds is thinner. The cover actually reminds me a bit of the album cover for ‘The Lying Swans’.
Other books I loved back then were Astrid Lindgren’s Ronja rövardotter and The Brothers Lionheart (similarly devastating to read as an adult), A Bolsa Amarela by Lygia Bojunga Nunes (a Brazilian children’s classic),Sonja und der Bär by Gerlinde Schneider. Another early childhood favourite that I recently rediscovered is Lupinchen by Binette Schroeder – the illustrations are truly magical, they feel like a depiction of my most delicate dreams. Then, when I could finally properly read myself, I devoured Turma da Mônica comics, everything by the Austrian author Christine Noestlinger and then lots of books about horses.
Would you ever re-read the same book?
Of course. There’s one book that I like to re-read during the gloomy season: The Moth Diaries by Rachel Klein. From the outside it seems like your standard vampire YA fiction (which is not something I am usually drawn to), but it’s not that at all. Inside is the most delicious, psychologically apt coming of age story of obsession in the form of a teenage girl’s boarding school diary. It can, in my opinion, stand confidently next to Gothic genre classics such as Carmilla.
Have you ever identified with a character in a book? Which one and why?
The aforementioned Lupinchen. I’ll just leave you with the synopsis:
“Lupinchen the doll is very lonely and very sad. To cheer her up, her friend Robert the Bird invites two of his best friends for cake and hot chocolate: the incredibly clever Mr. Klappaufundzu – a man who is essentially a box – and Mr. Humpty Dumpty, a shy, polite egg-shaped Englishman. One day, a high wind carries them away in a paper house….”
Is there an author / poet you would like to collaborate with?
I love Anne Carson’s body of work and her collaborations with musicians, it would be a dream to work with her.
‘The Lying Swans’ is out now.