It’s approximately 4 p.m. when Claire Cottrill, known in her career as Clairo, ambles into Webster Hall for a sound test. Outside, on East 11th Street, admirers are lined along the block, anxious to claim their place in the standing-room-only location. Cottrill has had a hectic summer, with her third record, Charm, dropping in July and swiftly gaining traction online. (Surely you’ve come across the effervescent, longing “Sexy to Someone”?) Four concerts into her five-night residency in New York, she discusses feedback from the earlier day’s show with her band onstage. Then, after rehearsing “Juna,” “Thank You,” and “Echo,” Cottrill meets me in her dressing area. She opens a pack of Cafe Bustelo, her favored coffee brand, and offers me a cup while we chat.
“The entire intention of having short-term residencies in LA and New York was to have, like, 10 shows under our belt before we start a tour across the rest of the nation and the globe. Gaining that experience and language built among the band is crucial,” Cottrill says, contemplating her first leading shows in nearly two years. Nonetheless, the audiences both in New York and Los Angeles, where she performed five nights at the Fonda Theatre near the beginning of the month, were prepared: “It’s certainly surreal to hear folks singing the words back to me,” she states. “It’s always been an astonishing experience for me.”
Cottrill selected both residency locations for their audio excellence, which she recalled from attending events there herself in past years. “Attending live music was such a significant part of my childhood,” she remarks. “What more could I wish for than providing an experience like that for young people? It’s so lovely.”
While Charm has been delighting Clairo enthusiasts for months now, its rhythmic sound freely drawing from jazz, soul, and psychedelic folk, Cottrill has been living with the record for the majority of a year since creating it in her upstate New York dwelling with co-producer Leon Michels. “I enter recording with the understanding that what I release may not be everyone’s top album, but I believe as long as I sense that I’m evolving and advancing my personal journey, then it’s worth releasing,” she articulates.