Live Review: Jen Cloher, Hollie Fullbrook

Entering the carnival environment of The Melba Spiegeltent is a novel experience and punters chatter in booths, catching up on news from their weeks. Hollie Fullbrook of Tiny Ruins is bewitching as always, her busy fingers strumming each note multiple times to create the illusion of a guitar ensemble. Fullbrook introduces a "revenge song” aimed squarely at an Auckland museum that didn't hire her but soon admits the dreamy Me At The Museum, You In The Wintergardens is "a love song, really". As drumming from The Tote nearby rumbles through The Melba Spiegeltent's floorboards, Fullbrook paints evocative pictures through song and we're completely transported to their places of origin. Fullbrook calmly tells us she recorded with David Lynch and the resulting Dream Wave follows. Then Hurtling Through - the title track from a joint EP she recorded with Hamish Kilgour, the drummer from The Clean - is ushered in. Fullbrook warns us that How Much, the first taste from her upcoming Milk! Records album release, is a particularly "band-y" song that translates better in Tiny Ruins format, but we're content to soak up her solo sounds for now and make a mental note that her band play a coupla Australian shows next month. 

This evening marks the third of four Jen Cloher solo shows at The Melba Spiegeltent. She wears a sleeveless, loose-fitting onesie that could only look stylish on Cloher. In solo acoustic mode, lyrics are extra in-your-face and meaningful. Opener Regional Echo concludes ("...never gonna be anything more than what’s expected of me") and we settle in for a night of confessional storytelling.

Cloher is a natural storyteller, often following up a tragic, real-life tale with some comic relief. Her instinctive feel for guitar is also showcased in this solo acoustic setting. We learn about Cloher's life growing up in Adelaide ("the city of churches and murders”). She tells us her obsession with The Doors became an after-school, bedroom ritual during which Cloher would change out of her school uniform (into some paisley threads) and burn Nag Champa while spinning obscure Doors cuts on vinyl and singing backing vocals of her own creation, all the while gazing up at a Jim Morrison poster on her ceiling (the one where he's shirtless, a string of beads around his neck and wearing leather pants extremely well). David Bowie Eyes is introduced as Cloher's tribute to Morrison and Patti Smith, who acknowledged The Doors frontman's ability to marry poetry with rock'n'roll in her memoir Just Kids. 


Some older cuts make an appearance, too, with Rain and Fear Is Like A Forest proving Cloher's songwriting ability and lyricism have always been top-notch. And her self-deprecating humour is endearing, Cloher labelling Sensory Memory "a rock widow’s revenge” since she was the songwriter left at home, struggling to fight feelings of envy while watching her partner Courtney Barnett's career exploding internationally as documented via Instagram posts. Waiting In The Wings bravely tackles these conflicting emotions of jealousy then guilt ("To be kind/Truly kind/Is radical"); feelings Cloher must access every time she performs this song. 


Cloher proudly tells us her late mother, Dr Dorothy Urlich-Cloher, has been posthumously honoured by Auckland University. She then details how difficult it was to write her second album in New Zealand - where Cloher returned after her mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis - sitting at the same desk her mother used to write brilliant specialist journals before her mind slowly unravelled. But then, classic Cloher, she feels bad for bringing us down and immediately shares a funny story about visiting her mum in an Alzheimer's care unit on Christmas Day. These rich backstories add extra gravitas to Cloher's performance of Mother's Desk. 

After asking if there are any Meryl Streep fans in the house (assorted hollers), Cloher then throws Judi Dench's name out there. Streep scores more cheers this evening, which Cloher says is atypical since Dench was favoured during her two previous shows at this venue. Needs is then dedicated to the Streep fans since this actress features in the song's lyrics. 


The story about Cloher's Galaga addiction, where she introduced herself as Jon so that she'd be accepted by the boys who also played this computer game, is priceless. Turns out this story is the inspiration behind Strong Woman and this extra knowledge strengthens our connection to the song. What a performance! Our furious clapping, roars of appreciation and even some foot stomping at song's close are all attempts to thank Cloher for generously revisiting some painful chapters in her story. 

Our encore comprises Save Me From What I Want and Cloher's sombre love song, Dark Art. In this intimate setting, we experience Cloher stripped right back to bare bones - completely baring her soul - and what remains is a truly exceptional artist in her own right.