Clare Bowditch is back, riding high on the success of a new single, The Start of War. It’s a prelude to a highly anticipated album, one that won’t hit the stores until early next year.
But that’s not about to stop Bowditch, who created her latest long player while in Berlin, that great artistic capital of the soul.
‘I think what (Berlin) does is really support anyone who is looking to explore how they make music,’ Bowditch explained on the phone from Melbourne.
‘That’s one of the great things about it; because you’re completely unknown you can really start again from the beginning.
‘And I think there’s also always an explosion of ideas between different artists, because it’s so youth-sensitive and creative-centered as a city. It’s an inspiring place to be.
‘But I think the first part of that is really that you get a chance to observe in a new way, and as a storyteller that’s very important when you don’t have the language of somewhere. So that was one of the great gifts of it, for me.’
Even Bowditch’s image has been given an arty overhaul. Gone are the red curls. In their place? A sweeping fire engine red bouffant.
It’s a look that carries across to her latest video for her single, The Start of War, in which she wears a black garbage dress ball gown and a summery streamer party frock, both garments created by emerging Melbourne designers.
And it’s a song that has particular relevance to Berlin itself, a city now celebrating the 20th anniversary – this month – of its liberation from that looming icon of the Cold War, The Berlin Wall.
It’s stories such as these – stories of persecution, stories of hope, stories of the human spirit surviving – that permeate Bowditch’s forthcoming new album
‘I think what has always been the largest part of my songs is that I’m a storyteller, and I like to speak thoughts with my songs, and just come at stories from a different angle. I guess that’s going to be the ongoing theme in all of my work, and it will translate through this next set of songs.
‘The most immediate songs are certainly more modern, and they are songs that investigate our modern day addictions and our modern world, so I guess that sound will be reflected. But I think as long as it’s me singing and telling the stories, then you’re probably going to see the relationship between all the albums.’
To witness sounds from the new Clare Bowditch album, be at Escape to the Park on Friday December 4 when Bowditch joins Paul Kelly, Augie March and Mama Kin for a roll in the grass. Ticket available now through www.ticketmaster.com.au . Bowditch’s new album out 2010 through Island / Universal.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
