Jen Cloher is the culmination of a period of artistic and personal growth in which the artist took her rightful place as the figurehead of Melbourne’s famous DIY music scene.
She is an outspoken advocate for artist rights, a label boss and band-leader, she also happens to be the partner of acclaimed songwriter Courtney Barnett. Cloher’s fascinating life-story is enough justification to take notice here, but it’s the music that will have you returning to this album again and again. Cloher says: “It’s a classic rock album, recorded live in one room with minimal overdubs.
I’m not too good at going into descriptive language around my own music but I suppose it is intimate without ever feeling too precious.”
The bulk of Cloher’s album was recorded in October 2016 by Greg Walker amidst the rolling greenery of Jumbunna in Victoria’s Gippsland, these are songs of distance and songs of driving. Four years on, the band that first played together on Cloher’s acclaimed third album, the Australian Music Prize nominated In Blood Memory, are bold and assured. The songs are split here and there by the melodic intricacy of guitarist Courtney Barnett while drummer Jen Sholakis and bassist Bones Sloane add weight and space, playing only what is needed, leaving room for the songs to breathe, transform and soar.
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