Meet Dionne, the singer-songwriter stepping out of starry shadows to find her own voice

It’s the start of Florence + the Machine‘s second night at The O2 last month and Dionne, the first opening act for the British star, is performing with a commendable swagger which gives the impression that she’s right at home. Her opening single ‘Out of My Mind’, packed with an infectious bass line, gives her the chance to rock out to an early evening crowd. The more contemplative ‘Captured You’, which soon follows, shows she’s capable of turning it up to eleven.

As for being right at home? Well, she technically already is. You see, Dionne has played this room as part of the Machine, Florence’s ever-excellent band. But after eight years of life-changing tours, Dionne is now stepping out to become a voice in her own right. If her debut EP Cooked is anything to go by, rooms of this size will be surely be on the horizon for her own solo career too.

Read our Play Next interview with Dionne and listen to her music via our Play Next playlist on Spotify, below.

We’re speaking a week or so after you opened for Florence + the Machine in London and Manchester. Have you managed to come back down to Earth yet?

Nope! Not at all. I was in the sprinter van on the way home from Manchester and I was like ‘OK, I’ve dealt with the aftermath of tour before’. But then I was like, ‘No, this is not gonna be OK!’ But a week or two later, I feel like life is good and there’s a lot to be thankful for. It’s all good.

When you’re at the start of your journey as a solo artist, did a gig of that size feel like a baptism of fire?

It’s weird, because when I was a teenager my sister taught me that opposite things can be true and that’s OK. So it was a baptism of fire and I went into those shows thinking maybe I wouldn’t be able to do it. But then I also felt quietly confident that this is where I belong. I’m gonna feel at home and excited and just ready.

It’s funny too, because I’m a tennis coach as well and on Monday morning I was on my way to the court to teach these adults who I’ve been working with for a while now. I just thought, ‘Why is it that I feel more at home and comfortable on that arena stage than I do walking up to a tennis court?’

Are your students aware you’ve got this Clark Kent/Superman thing going on then?

Do you know what’s hilarious? They are, and I think they secretly only want me to coach them because of the music and they think it’s really cool. One of my clients went to the London show. We knew a couple of weeks before that she had already got her tickets for her and her daughter. That was quite mad.

You’ve been part of the Machine for quite a while now. Why does it feel like the right time to step out as a solo artist in your own right?

I think a lot of it has to do with me being unbelievably fortunate. My sister is Laura Mvula and I was in her band before Florence, which was amazing. I love her and we went all round the world and it was an incredible place to grow as a musician.

When I joined Florence’s band, it was almost like a really necessary space from Laura because she was just so big and I connected with this side of myself that I always knew to be quite different to my sister and my brother James, who is an incredible cellist. I’m the littlest of three musicians, and in Florence’s band suddenly I wasn’t Laura’s little sister or James’s little sister. That had a big effect on my psyche. It meant I knew I was allowed to go on my own path and that was the beginning of exploring and being a bit more selfish creatively.

Your sound is eclectic. There’s soulful moments, but also a rockier side which comes to life in the live show. How did you land on it?

There is a massive influence which comes from Florence and some of my favourite memories on stage with her. We’d play ‘Kiss With a Fist’ and it used to feel properly rock and roll – just going nuts. I absolutely loved it. She’d get her tambourine out and would be running around. There was guitars, drums and madness. I just remember when we performed it I thought, ‘Yeah man, this is the vibe. This is how I would run things if I was expressing myself.’

And the more soulful side – where does that come from?

We grew up playing music in church, our dad was a worship leader. So you have this kind of spiritual gospel, but my dad was also a huge lover of jazz. Miles Davis is on my wall because that’s what we grew up listening to. I’m at the beginning of my journey of developing a sound and I’ve just started to feel comfortable being in one place sonically and staying there. I’m excited to keep writing and releasing music and hopefully it’ll find a winder audience.

Where are you finding inspiration lyrically?

I wanna tell stories, that’s my thing. I wanna tell stories that are true. Maya Angelou had this brilliant quote about the responsibility of artists to tell the truth, and that’s what I’ve tried to do with my debut EP, although I also want to leave some things to the imagination. For example, ‘When Sky Falls’ is about something very specific to me, but I think people will just assume it’s a breakup song, and it’s not at all. That’s about a specific relationship, but not a romantic one. It’s more of a fuck you!

Has Florence given you any career advice?

Not directly, but I’m continually inspired by her, especially her artistry and her latest record [Everybody Scream], which explores that idea of what you would be willing to say if you weren’t scared that anyone would judge you for it? She’s done exactly that! On ‘One of the Greats’ she talks about men making boring music just because they can and she’s just unbelievably honest. So is Laura too. That’s what I want to take from both of them, the freedom that they have chosen to express themselves creatively.