We dive into the gear Clairo has been drawn across her evolving musical career.
The musical evolution of Clairo is quite a marvel. From bedroom-pop, lo-fi tracks like “4EVER” and “Flaming Hot Cheetos” to 2021’s alternative folk record Sling and the rich, warm, and vintage-inspired Charm, Clairo proves you can create your own, distinct sound without limiting yourself to one genre.
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The bedroom pop era
Clairo is no stranger to DIY. In a tweet from October 2018, Clairo was candid about her setup, which included a Yamaha PSR-170 keyboard for drum sounds and key presets, a Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 interface, and GarageBand. An Instagram story later confirmed that early tracks, including “4EVER”, “2 Hold U”, “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos”, and the demo of “How Did I Ever” were all recorded in GarageBand on her Mac.
The Immunity era
Immunity, released in 2019, was co-produced by Clairo and Rostam Batmanglij (formerly of Vampire Weekend) and recorded primarily at Truth Studios and Echo Park Back House Studios in Los Angeles, with additional sessions at Bravo Ocean Studios in Atlanta. The core instrument for several tracks, including “Alewife” and “Bags”, was a Fender Telecaster through a Fender Twin Reverb amp. For “Alewife”, Breton handed Clairo a Shure SM57 in the control room, turned off all the lights bar one candle, and she recorded the song top to bottom in four or five live full-song takes.
On the plugin side, the Mix with the Masters session breakdown with Rostam and Clairo confirmed a Waves CLA-76 compressor/limiter on vocal stems. Rostam used a combination of the Avid SansAmp, the UAD ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder plug-in, and AltiVerb reverb to achieve what he described as “a scrappy sound” on guitar parts, and all was run through a Universal Audio Apollo interface. His own synth contributions included a John Bowen Solaris synth.
Danielle Haim of HAIM played drums on “Bags” and “Sofia”. The album was mixed by Dave Fridmann, who is known for his work with Tame Impala and The Flaming Lips.
The Sling era
Released in 2021 and co-produced with Jack Antonoff, Sling marked a sonic shift. The entire album was recorded at Allaire Studios, a remote, mountaintop facility in upstate New York, and later completed at the legendary Electric Lady Studios in New York City.
The instrument list for Sling is like a vintage keyboard collector’s wishlist. Claire played piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, Hammond B3 organ, Mellotron, clavichord, vibraphone, and analog synth across the record, alongside kalimba, and electric, acoustic, and 12-string acoustic guitars. Antonoff added a Moog bass, lap steel guitar, fretless bass, slide guitar, upright bass, and a Fender Rhodes to the sessions. The wind and string arrangements were played by multi-instrumentalist Evan Smith, who contributed flute, saxophone, clarinet, and violin across Sling.
When it comes to playing live, a Fender Stratocaster was pretty consistent throughout the Sling era – documented as far back as Clairo’s 2019 Rock en Seine performance in Paris. A Fender American Professional Jazzmaster also appeared during a BBC Radio 1 Piano Session, where Clairo performed live. For her 2022 Sling tour, Clairo used a Shure SM58 as her vocal microphone, with a DPA d:facto condenser also confirmed in video documentation for some performances. A Strymon BigSky reverb pedal also features on her live board.
The Charm era
The first hint that Charm was coming arrived in early 2024, when Clairo posted a photo on Instagram of herself in the studio holding a clarinet. Charm was recorded live to analog tape at two New York studios, Diamond Mine Recording in Queens and Allaire Studios near Woodstock. Recording to tape rather than digitally imposes the vintage warmth (or charm, you could say) heard throughout the record.
Producer Leon Michels brought an impressive range of instruments to the sessions. His contributions included flute, synth, organ, piano, Mellotron, clarinet, bongos, Wurlitzer, saxophone, vibraphone, and drums. Clairo herself played Wurlitzer electric piano (which you can hear most potently on “Echo”), piano, flute, guitar, and percussion across the record.
Clairo uses a Yamaha CS-80 in her setup, as well as a Roland Juno-60, visible in the background of an Instagram post from the same period. Live, a Fender Rhodes Mark I Suitcase 73 featured during her Tonight Show performance of Juna, played by a member of her band. A Kemper Profiler Rack was also spotted in a studio session video.
