Today we’d like to introduce you to Claire Gohst.
Hi Claire, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am the lead singer and guitarist of the indie-rock project, Paper Citizen. I’ve been in the USA coming on eight years now, but kinda new in town from the East Coast. I was just beginning to enjoy sidewalk conversations and beautiful weather up until 2020 unraveled, yet somehow it still feels like the sun shines brighter here.
Paper Citizen has been my indie-rock baby since migrating from Singapore (where I was born). As the daughter of a pastor, I lived in a deeply religious community and was only exposed to Praise and Worship or Classical music. I was always drawn to rock-music in the 90s – the lyrics were so free, the instruments so loud I felt it in my bones, and sang along until I was hoarse.
I remember getting my first battery-operated portable radio at age 11 and hearing the voices of Shirley Manson and Alanis Morisette cutting through the static. How it opened my mind infinitely – the visibility of strong, outspoken, talented women. The allure of a wildly dangerous mix of rebellion and style. I left home and dropped out of college after my deeply religious and conservative family learned that I was a lesbian. At the time I was angry, devastated and felt really lost. Playing music brought such joy and catharsis, so I decided music was the only thing I wanted to do.
I found myself performing at local bars and restaurants in Singapore, singing acoustic covers of western songs as well as playing the violin. Years later, I was given the opportunity to visit and perform in America, and once I saw how vibrant it was, I knew it was where wanted to live here and make music.
I moved to Boston in 2013 where I attended Berklee College of Music, studying Music Production and Engineering, I learned about how my favourite records were made and also fell in love with writing songs. After moving to America solo, I slowly began to find my identity and community as a musician, as well as a queer-identifying woman from South-East Asia. I have found myself racing to assimilate to American culture and chasing numbers in order to thrive in a competitive immigration system. In some ways, I still have to. I don’t know till when. Not quite identifying with Eastern or Western values entirely, I can only write about my own dreams – making music has brought me much joy and catharsis, a way to pay tribute to the deep emotions of the love and struggle I have experienced here, and hope I can someday find my place of belonging.
Paper Citizen came about as I started writing about my journey from east to west, the changes, loneliness, freedom and the love I experienced. The name comes from chasing an American dream of being an artist, finding pathways to legal immigration and the resulting discovery of a voice that would resonate a message of finding connection.
Right before the pandemic, I made the move to beautiful Los Angeles, where I continue to write music and am collaborating with other artists in the city. I feel at home here in every way and am really excited for you to hear the new records I’ve been working on!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think the struggles and process of learning how to overcome them makes each artist unique!
Looking back, not being accepted by my family was difficult. Leaving my home country and adapting from an eastern to western way of life was definitely a struggle at first. Finding ways to make ends meet as a student was so tough. Enduring east coast winters in America was so hard for me. Not forgetting that the process of legal immigration is an obstacle too, it’s costly, time-consuming and can cause a lot of anxiety! It makes me appreciate the little things in life I have once taken for granted. All that said is my journey and my story, one that only continues to evolve in this crazy life.
Another broader struggle was in adapting to the new ways in which we record, perform and release music today. Coming from a background of bar gigs and live shows, I had to exercise a lot of patience with myself to learn about new technologies and platforms that would help me reach new audiences. I’m glad I pushed through that struggle.
The recent pandemic was especially hard on everyone, and musicians everywhere were hit with losing our mainstream of income from performing at shows. I think I am still working to come back from that, in the meantime it’s been an exercise in resourcefulness to find other avenues of work 🙂
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a musician! I’m probably most known for being a producer and multi-instrumentalist, playing violin, guitar and piano.
These days I have been writing songs under the name Paper Citizen, where the name comes from the process of becoming a legal immigrant and idea that our existence and the places we belong depend on what is based in writing.
My latest EP, Wandering Ghost is the work I am most proud of so far, as it a selection of songs influenced by songwriting and rock music of the early 2000s till today. The juxtaposed sounds of analog and digital convey harmony between our present reality and the imagined, its lines blurred, and how we find our sense of belonging here in America. It’s a musical journey fueled by generous love and inspirations from east to west, continental to coastal, darkness to light, feminine to masculine; vibrating a message from another human who’s searching for acceptance in a new world.
Over the years, I am blessed to have developed a great ear for music, hearing songs with detail and generating new ideas with ease. I feel particularly empathic and place a focus on the meaning or inspiration behind a piece of music. I have been told I am known for being able to create or enhance a musical scene that translates to those feelings.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
“It is better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong than to agonize at length and be right too late” – Marilyn Moats Kennedy
Risks help us advance in the school of life. Every voyage you embark on teaches you something about yourself and leaves you with invaluable knowledge, like filling out a blank map for the next one.
Leaving home, dropping out of school, migrating across continents and coasts all seemed major risky to me at the time. From motivations that stemmed from survival, I feel grateful for the grind that’s led me to thrive today.
Passion is the burning flame of our heart, the fire inside of us that wants to shine brightly. When we listen to what our heart tells us, we fuel this passion with life. The reason we consider risking anything at all is because we can and want to imagine the possibility of something more for what we love.
“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – William Faulkner.
Pricing:
- Wandering Ghost EP – Digital Download 7
- Distraction EP – Vinyl – $25
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: papercitizen.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/papercitizen
- Facebook: facebook.com/papercitizen
- Youtube: youtube.com/papercitizen
- SoundCloud: https://m.soundcloud.com/paper-citizen
- Other: papercitizen.bandcamp.com
Image Credits:
MK Sadler
