Culture Clash: Dear Reader

City Slang songwriter on her cultural pursuits...

For a while there Dear Reader – real name Cherilyn MacNeil – seemed content to take a back seat.

It's been four years since the songwriter delivered new material, a period in which the South African artist has allowed her creative faculties to become re-charged.

New album 'Day Fever' brings Dear Reader sharply back into focus, a work that sits between indie, pop, and somewhere quite different.

Out now, it's a mature work, one that finds Cherilyn delving deep within herself to produce something startling.

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Book
I just finished reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith and I really enjoyed it. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that kept me up until 3am because I didn’t want to put it down. It’s very intimate, and it makes you think on a lot of different levels.

Film
Fairly recently I saw American Honey at the cinema and it was a startlingly good movie. I think most of the actors in the movie had never acted before and as a result it’s all really raw and real. Music also plays a huge role in the movie, and although it’s music I usually wouldn’t listen to, it’s hugely compelling in the film.

Gadget
My mom gave me this thing that you can use to make thin spirals out of carrots and zucchini and stuff. It’s kind of like a fancy grater, shaped like an hour glass. You stick the vegetable in (it needs to be a longish, thin vegetable) and then you twist and simultaneously push and out come the spirals. It’s pretty hard on the wrists, and I tend to give up after 3/4 of a carrot, but I actually do use it a lot when I make veggie egg noodles or salads.

Video Game
God, I can’t remember the last time I played a video game. I guess that just makes me sound really old, but it’s true. The last game I have any memory of is Earthworm Jim, circa 1999.

Album
At the moment I am very into sir Was' 'Digging A Tunnel'. Hazy, emotional vocals and simple, groovy hip-hop beats. Makes me feel like I’m cruising through life.

TV Show
Recently we started watching ‘Rectify’ and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen something that has affected me so strongly. After some episodes I felt emotionally shell-shocked. It is truly excellent television.

Art Exhibition
A few years ago I went to an Olafur Eliasson exhibition at the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin. The first part was a light installation where you walked into a room that was completely filled with fog and lit with different colours. The sensation was of being completely engulfed by colour, and as you moved through the room the colours changed. It was a really powerful experience to have your sense of sight basically disabled and then focused so intensely on only one thing.

I think the installation was called Your Blind Movement. I wish I could have something like that at home to switch on when I need a moment.

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'Day Fever' is out now.

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