Cloher's new record "feels very where I am right now in my life"

Music journalists Mikey Cahill and Sosefina Fuamoli discover some details behind Jen Cloher's upcoming album.

Melbourne-based Maori singer Jen Cloher revealed on Hit Different this week a new album is ready to record.

It comes with a twist – having written it and waiting to be able to hit the studios, Cloher will pay homage to her native land New Zealand by singing the lyrics in te reo Maori. The decision comes after the Hit Different crew discussed Lorde’s decision to release an EP version of new record Solar Power with the lyrics sung in te reo Maori.

“I’ve actually had a record written and demo-ed and ready to go for probably about a year, I just can’t record it,” Cloher said.

“I got a little bit of recording done in May, and I was actually hoping to go home to Aotearoa (New Zealand) because this is the first album where I do sing in the language of te reo Maori.”

I've actually had a record sort of written and demoed and ready to go for oh, probably for about a year. I can't record it.”

Instead of relying on her own recently acquired knowledge of the te reo Maori language to record the album, Cloher enlisted the writing prowess of New Zealand alt-pop artist Theia to help translate. Careful to avoid appropriating the culture and its language, Cloher believes her new album pays respect to the New Zealand Indigenous people.

“I’ve been chatting with Theia about a song I wrote, I came to her and asked if she’d like to translate it into a whole song and not just the chorus,” Cloher explained.

“She said to some extent she’s a co-writer, and translating them is taking the essence of my lyrics and writing them into Maori.”

“I thought it was such an awesome point, and I thought we should definitely work out co-write splits.”

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We covered it on Hit Different, a weekly podcast that puts music culture in context.

Despite holding her cards close to her chest in regards to the direction of the album and the song titles, Cloher was willing to disclose her idea for the album name when questioned by co-host Mikey Cahill.

“I’m toying with this beautiful saying which is ‘I am the river, the river is me’ – I think that might be the title, it feels very where I am right now in my life,” Cloher said.

The only other details about Cloher’s new work revealed on Hit Different was the idea behind the project. Having taken up learning te reo Maori a couple of years ago, Cloher is channelling the love she holds for “the women in (her) family” to encapsulate “the heart of the album”.

It all sounds completely different to Cloher’s last album in 2017, which Mikey Cahill described as being full of “love and chaos”. Instead of trying to relate to people who agree “how shit it is to be a musician in so-called Australia”, Cloher is changing tact with her latest work.

“I don’t really look at each album as whether it’ll be better than the last one,” Cloher said.

“They’re all just really different, and I’ve always written about what’s happening right now, what’s going on.”

Hear the full story on Hit Different, a free weekly podcast that puts music culture in context.