At Least For Now

Benjamin Clementine, the acclaimed London-born, Paris-based singer, songwriter and pianist will release his stunning debut album, At Least For Now, on July 31st in the US. Clementine has packed a lot into his 26 years: heartbreak, homelessness, and reinvention all came before reaching cult status in Paris and eventually receiving the Best New Act honors at 2015 s Les Victoires de la Musique, the French equivalent of the GRAMMY Awards. Raised in a strict religious household in the tough Edmonton section of London, Benjamin started to teach himself the keyboard at age 11, stumbling upon classical rather than contemporary pop; a sparse piano solo by Erik Satie in particular transformed the way he played. At 16 years old, in a rare moment of permitted TV watching, he caught New York avant-gardists Antony and the Johnsons performing the disarmingly naked Hope There s Someone on the BBC. I was confused, scared...it was another world, says Clementine. When it finished, I went back upstairs to my piano and started playing chords.