Biography
Jen Cloher channels grit, scorn, and tenderness in equal measure through her singing, songwriting, and guitar playing as an Australian indie-rock artist. Backed by the Endless Sea, her first album, Dead Wood Falls from 2006, earned a nomination for Best Female Artist at the ARIA Music Awards. The 2013 release In Blood Memory, her third full-length, contained a duet with Courtney Barnett, while the self-titled Jen Cloher arrived in 2017 with appearances by both Barnett and Kurt Vile and marked her chart debut by peaking inside the Top Five on Australia’s album chart. In 2023 she reached number 30 with the politically and personally charged I Am the River, the River Is Me.
Born in Adelaide, Cloher relocated to Sydney after high school to attend the National Institute of Dramatic Art, yet chose music over acting once she graduated. Shiny Records issued her debut EP, Permanent Marker, in 2005. Credited to Jen Cloher & the Endless Sea, the 2006 album Dead Wood Falls enlisted violinist Andrea Summer, pianist Ross Calia, guitarist Michael Hubbard, bassist Geoffrey Dunbar, and drummer Jen Sholakis; the record secured the aforementioned ARIA nomination. Hidden Hands, released in 2009 and again under the Cloher & the Endless Sea name, drew from the impact of her mother’s advancing Alzheimer’s and featured guitarist Tom Healy in its revised lineup.
Following a hiatus prompted by the deaths of both parents in 2011, Cloher resurfaced in 2012 with the split single “Mount Beauty,” paired with Courtney Barnett’s “History Erase.” The track later surfaced on her third album, In Blood Memory, issued in 2013 by Milk! Records in Australia and Vitamin Records in the U.S. and presented solely under her own name. That year she also contributed vocal harmonies to Barnett’s album Avant-Gardener.
Cloher and Barnett issued another split single in 2015, “Needle in the Hay” / “Swan Street Swagger,” and Shiny Records pressed Dead Wood Falls on vinyl for the first time in 2016 to mark its tenth anniversary. Milk! Records and Marathon Artists released the 2017 album Jen Cloher, which included guest spots from Barnett and Kurt Vile, earned strong praise at home, and climbed to number five on the ARIA chart. After the 2019 side project Dyson Stringer Cloher alongside Mia Dyson, Liz Stringer, and Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, she returned in March 2023 with the solo album I Am the River, the River Is Me on Milk! and Marathon, her first to incorporate lyrics in both English and Māori and a Top 30 entry in Australia.
Born in Adelaide, Cloher relocated to Sydney after high school to attend the National Institute of Dramatic Art, yet chose music over acting once she graduated. Shiny Records issued her debut EP, Permanent Marker, in 2005. Credited to Jen Cloher & the Endless Sea, the 2006 album Dead Wood Falls enlisted violinist Andrea Summer, pianist Ross Calia, guitarist Michael Hubbard, bassist Geoffrey Dunbar, and drummer Jen Sholakis; the record secured the aforementioned ARIA nomination. Hidden Hands, released in 2009 and again under the Cloher & the Endless Sea name, drew from the impact of her mother’s advancing Alzheimer’s and featured guitarist Tom Healy in its revised lineup.
Following a hiatus prompted by the deaths of both parents in 2011, Cloher resurfaced in 2012 with the split single “Mount Beauty,” paired with Courtney Barnett’s “History Erase.” The track later surfaced on her third album, In Blood Memory, issued in 2013 by Milk! Records in Australia and Vitamin Records in the U.S. and presented solely under her own name. That year she also contributed vocal harmonies to Barnett’s album Avant-Gardener.
Cloher and Barnett issued another split single in 2015, “Needle in the Hay” / “Swan Street Swagger,” and Shiny Records pressed Dead Wood Falls on vinyl for the first time in 2016 to mark its tenth anniversary. Milk! Records and Marathon Artists released the 2017 album Jen Cloher, which included guest spots from Barnett and Kurt Vile, earned strong praise at home, and climbed to number five on the ARIA chart. After the 2019 side project Dyson Stringer Cloher alongside Mia Dyson, Liz Stringer, and Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, she returned in March 2023 with the solo album I Am the River, the River Is Me on Milk! and Marathon, her first to incorporate lyrics in both English and Māori and a Top 30 entry in Australia.
Albums
Singles
