Jen Cloher - Not so dark, but oh so deep.

In the wake of a successful year, Jen Cloher, of Jen Cloher and the Endless Sea, talks to The Dwarf about surprises, love, big business, her tears for Peter Garrett and the album which got her and the Endless Sea nominated at the ARIAs for Best Female Artist, 'Deadwood Falls'.
The Dwarf: You were nominated for Best Female Artist at the ARIAs. Is that the highlight of your career so far?

Jen Cloher: I’m not really one for awards. I don’t know how you can determine why one person who works from their heart works better than another person working from theirs. I guess the nominations are about recognizing hard work. In my category all of those women have worked really hard. The highlight for me has been making a record. Actually recording an album and releasing it, tours, photo shoots and all sorts of things to support the release.

The Dwarf: Was there anything that surprised you at the ARIAs?

JC: I was surprised that The Audreys took out Best Blues and Roots. I thought Bernard Fanning would win that just because he’s huge. So that was great to see The Audreys win. I wasn’t surprised that Clare Bowditch won but I wouldn’t have been surprised if Kasey Chambers had picked up the award again. So it was really nice to see Clare win that award as she’s lesser known (she was indie before she went to EMI) and she’s worked really hard and deserves that award. It was really nice to see the Hilltop Hoods, an Adelaide indie band, win a couple of awards. It was good to see the industry opening up a little bit more and acknowledging the work of independent artists and those indie artists not just being token.

The Dwarf: Do you agree with some of the sentiments of Midnight Oil’s speech such as people’s obsession with get- famous-quick music shows and that people aren’t writing about war like they did in the Vietnam years?

JC: Yeah, I think it harks back to the country that we live in and the government that governs us and the current political climate here and in the world. It directly feeds into popular culture and how conservative it is and how conservative we’ve become. It’s been a weird kind of cancer watching these reality TV shows manufacturing bands and I guess they’re about making money. We live in a greedy world and everything is marketed and made into something that can be sold. These shows make people rich. So to think that a business man sitting on a 25th floor would be thinking about making something from the heart is not it. A businessman is thinking about how to make money. So I definitely agree. But it’s always been like that it’s always been a lot of crap. In a way that makes the good stuff shine through a bit more. I think the reaction to it is theres not as much being written about the war and the current political climate for two reasons; a lot of artists feel we’d be preaching to the converted anyway and a lot of people feel we get it shoved down our throats all the time and music is an opportunity for people to escape that for a while and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, music being used as a tool to come out of ourselves and come out of the pain of living in the world today which is painful and not nice. We are constantly faced with war, global warming and poverty.

The Dwarf: Were you surprised that Daniel Johns graffitied PG 4 PM?

JC: No he’s always taken a very political stance, not necessarily by writing about it but I think actions speak louder than words and his actions have always been really interesting. He chooses to be a vegetarian and be very open about that. I felt that performance was THE highlight of the evening.

The Dwarf: Do you hope Peter Garrett will stand up for PM one day?

JC: Oh look it would be amazing! It almost makes me want to cry. We’ve just endured so much grief and sadness and maybe that’s what Australia needed to see and who knows maybe things will change.

The Dwarf: Let’s talk about 'Deadwood Falls'. It has had nothing less than rave reviews with most critics referring to the album as dark and melancholy. Is that how you’d describe it?

JC: Well the main themes are about loss and unrequited love and the darker edge to dealing with relationships. It’s a really done topic and most albums, books and films to some extent cover that territory but it’s telling it your way and reinventing the way to tell that story. I guess the CD does have a dark and melancholy side but it also has a very beautiful, fragile, heartfelt side to it.

The Dwarf: Do you still feel the same way about love?

JC: I haven’t been in love since I made that album. I’d have to see what the next love affair holds for me. I guess I’ve been touring and having success and a lot of personal changes in my life for the better so I do feel like a different person and I wouldn’t be able to write that album again, to speak about heartbreak and longing and unrequited love, because it would be a lie. So I don’t feel that way.

The Dwarf: What’s next for Jen Cloher and the Endless Sea?

JC: We’re playing a couple of festivals over the December- January period: Homebake, The Falls and Feelgood. Then we’re touring in January with Laura Veirs, a Canadian singer songwriter whos amazing, as a double headline. Then I want to hang up my touring boots and start writing for the second album. I really want to push myself next year and see what I come up with.

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