Smash-And-Grab Job

17 July 2014 | 10:42 am | Tyler McLoughlan

Jen Cloher on working with a “bad boy” of Oz rock’n’roll, Tim Rogers.

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With a strong DIY ethos and the pluck of an independent artist intent on keeping herself in work, Jen Cloher always seems to have something interesting on the go. Last year she played an epic 40-date national tour alongside mates Mia Dyson and Liz Stringer, took her I Manage My Music workshop series for self-managed artists around the country too, and released a critically acclaimed third record, In Blood Memory. To coincide with a quick run of four capital city dates, Cloher has dropped a beast of a rock duet with Tim Rogers that takes the brain a few seconds to catch on, such is the pace and level of immediate energy in Stone Age Brain.

“It’s kind of funny ‘cause we didn’t actually record it in the studio together,” she admits, both artists having scheduling constraints. “I was really happy with how he approached it, and he really got it; Tim’s a pro – he’s belted out a few duets in his time so he wasn’t in the studio long. I think he just kind of walked in, smashed it out and left,” she laughs, though listeners will be just as impressed with hearing a new side to Cloher’s vocal. “The energy that I had to throw into that song – because it’s so fast, and the actual melody is quite monotone – I really had to work to pull sentences around and make it kind of interesting. But it was really fun, it was a real challenge and I think quite a departure from anything that I’ve done before.

"I was really happy with how he approached it, and he really got it"

“I’ve never worked with Tim before but he’s always kind of just around. I’ll go down to the pub and see a band and he’ll be there, or we’ll cross each other’s paths and do a RocKwiz episode except he’s singing a duet with someone else… I was thinking through all these characters in Melbourne and then I was like – Tim Rogers! It’s so Tim Rogers; he’s got the attitude, he’s got that bad guy/bad boy energy about him, and a lot of the guys I thought of were still a bit too nice.”

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Stone Age Brain is the first taste of a forthcoming compilation from Milk! Records, the label Cloher runs with bandmate Courtney Barnett.

“We took five bands into a studio over a weekend and recorded five new songs and we’re going to press that onto ten-inch vinyl… Stone Age Brain is going to be on the ten inch. Because I had some shows coming up we were like, ‘We might as well just pop it out now and people can hear something before they come along to the show,’” she says, stoked with the news that all dates are on the verge of selling out.

“It’s been a little while since I played these songs and I wanted to play that album [In Blood Memory] and a few other songs before I go into the next writing period and hopefully album number four. It’s lovely to see that people haven’t forgotten me.”