Cloves: 'Why The Fuck Am I Here?'

The Australian soulstress Kaity "Cloves" Dunstan has already been compared to everyone from Amy Winehouse to Bon Iver. Now this 'Next Big Thing' is presenting her long-awaited debut LP, One Big Nothing - and, yes, it's compelling.

The quietly ambitious Dunstan was penning songs as a pre-teen. Soon, she began gigging with an older sister in Melbourne bars - Dad acting as manager, roadie and bodyguard. In 2013, Dunstan competed in Season 2 of The Voice Australia, a fact omitted from her label bio. "Now I look back on it, I'm just fine with it," the charming Dunstan philosophises freely. "For me, it 'is what it is' a bit because it's only a part of who I am now. I was 16 at the time. I kind of grew up in the middle of nowhere. I didn't know anyone. All I wanted to do was make an album, I've always had the same goal in mind. I just thought it would be a nice way for me to get to Sydney and maybe meet some people… [But] since then, I've spent five years working my arse off and learning and understanding and trying to be a better artist. I think it's just everyone has where they start out."

Leaving school early, Dunstan was determined to become a traditional singer-songwriter (her idols include Carole King, Elliott Smith and Fiona Apple). She assumed the boho alias 'Cloves' after smoking aromatic cigarettes on a Bali retreat. Dunstan wound up in London, today her "second home". "I've got all my things here now and I've got friends here." (Plus she's acquired a slight English accent.) 

In the UK, Dunstan connected with her mentor, Justin Parker - an in-demand writer since he collaborated on Lana Del Rey's Video Games. "He's just an incredible talent," Dunstan praises. "He's like a classic songwriter, in a way. He wants the song to be meaningful and purposeful. I think that's really inspiring - and that's something that I always want, too." In 2015, Dunstan released an EP of acoustic ballads, XIII. Tracks were synced for Emilia Clarke's teary movie Me Before You (Don't Forget About Me) and The Vampire Diaries (Everybody's Son). But, mostly, Dunstan performed solidly - even hitting Coachella (she recently returned to Australia for headline shows and to support The Rubens' regionally). This enabled Dunstan to tweak her material.

In late 2016, Dunstan aired the folksy Better Now - her album expected last year. Yet she needed extra time to refine her craft. During the recording, Dunstan also experienced personal changes - and split from her childhood sweetheart. "It's been a massive growth for me." Indeed, One Big Nothing involved self-analysis. "This record was me really trying to understand myself; understand what I wanted to say, what my point was - like, 'Why the fuck am I here?' It was just a lot of questioning." Crucially, Dunstan grappled with her perfectionism. "I think [the album] really took me through a bit of a self-pressure and self-doubt and being super-self-critical and getting super-anxious and feeling really down. It was this process of being too hard on myself and then having to work my way out of that." As Dunstan learnt more about production, and how to articulate her ideas, she experimented - itself liberating.

One Big Nothing finds Dunstan ruminating on the nuances of relationships and social exchanges - her lyrics simultaneously specific and universal. The mood is "kind of happy, sad and everything in between", she says. "Thematically, it's quite all over the place. It can be vulnerable and it can be self-assured and then it can be talking about feeling really depressed - like going up and down. It's about waking up in the morning and not knowing whether or not you're gonna be having a good day or a bad day, and that becoming quite tiring for you, and that feeling of like, 'Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and I'll feel better' - and then you realise that actually you're still stuck in your same kind of cycle of anxiety." Dunstan posits that Bringing The House Down - a bluesy jam helmed by super-producer Ariel Rechtshaid - is a "fuck it!" song.

Dunstan is currently preparing for a European tour. But, as One Big Nothing rolls out, the star is moving forward. "I'm definitely proud of it, but I'm always onto the next thing… I think that's just my personality."