Track Of The Day: Jen Cloher – ‘Mana Takatāpui’

How am I so late to the Jen Cloher party?! An integral part of the Melbourne indie scene that also gave us Courtney Barnett, Cloher is a long-established and hugely respected songwriter and performer. And, when you listen to ‘Mana Takatāpui’, taken from their first album in five years, it’s not hard to see why. It’s dazzling. A masterclass in songwriting, ‘Mana Takatāpui‘ celebrates the indigenous Polynesian people of Aotearoa, New Zealand and the Māori, LGBTQ+ community. It’s also an important reflection on finding yourself and the concept of ‘home’. 

Cloher’s warm honeyed vocal, reminiscent of early Cat Power, is so soothing and spiritual that it makes your heart swell. And, while their lyrics are both personal and political, they are delivered with such love and pride that the song never feels heavy. From the opening harmonies to the upbeat affirmations that come later, it’s joyous. This is music to bathe yourself in.

Of the meaning behind the track, Cloher explains:

“I’m no expert but I’m guessing Māori pre-colonisation didn’t hold the same beliefs around gender and sexuality as Queen Victoria’s England. I’ve read that our men were hands on dedicated fathers and some of our best midwives; that our women fought side by side on the battlefield and that our wāhine atua (female gods) held as much mana (power and respect) as our tāne atua. Christianity came hand in hand with colonisation; their missionaries introducing the concepts of body shame, sexual repression, a woman’s menstrual cycle as impure, homosexuality as a perversion and gender as binary.“

Watch the poignant new video for Mana Takatāpui here:


Cloher’s upcoming new album, I Am The River, The River Is Me, is set for release on 3rd March 2023 via Milk! Records/Marathon Artists.

Vic Conway
@thepicsofvic

Photo Credit: Marcelle Bradbeer

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Track Of The Day: The Famous Daxx – ‘Treetops’

A deceptively light tune, ‘Treetops‘ by The Famous Daxx has layers you won’t notice at a glance. Inspired by fairy tales, the song has a playfulness in its music combined with heart-wrenching pain in the lyrics, which deconstruct the stories we take for granted as being light-hearted just because they are told to children.

‘Treetops’ is set long after the story of Hansel and Gretel’s abandonment by their father. It is sung from Gretel’s perspective as she laments the death of her brother at his own hand, after finally succumbing to the trauma of his childhood. The song makes a statement about masculinity and mental health, and its impact on men’s lives, whilst also being an exploration of how it feels to love someone struggling with their mental health and the conflicting, long lasting emotions that tragedy can trigger.

It’s a gentle song; the vocals are soft, and flow delicately over almost playful slide guitars. The sorrow in the words and the darkness of the subject matter overall is hidden by the air of lightness in the music, which itself acts as a challenge to our perception of stories. Much like the original tale, the sweetness of the sound masks the suffering at its core.

‘Treetops’ doesn’t have a happy ending. In the same breath that Gretel resolves to speak out, she fails to break the cycle – “This time I will speak my mind / I open my mouth but nothing comes out” – leaving her pain lingering in the air. The track is profound, but doesn’t pretend to have answers to the helplessness Gretel feels; it laments that all Gretel’s love ultimately couldn’t save her brother from his pain, and knows there isn’t an easy solution that can be condensed into a three minute song. But it leaves you with the undeniable conviction that it’s worth the work it will take to find one anyway.

‘Treetops’ is out now, ahead of The Famous Daxx’s upcoming debut EP TFD.

Kirstie Summers
@actuallykurt

Photo Credit: Hannah Mason

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Track Of The Day: Human Interest – ‘Mixing Paint’

Having received wide-spread acclaim for their debut EP, Desire Paths, earlier this year, and wowing crowds at shows supporting legends like Self Esteem and Dave Rowntree, London duo Human Interest have now shared an infectious new single.

Reflecting on the darkest crevices of the mind with a fizzing post-punk energy, ‘Mixing Paint‘ oozes the band’s trademark gritty allure as the sweeping power of Tyler Damara Kelly’s vocals ripple alongside atmospheric bass hooks, building with driving beats into a fiercely immersive anthem. Another single (following the utterly addictive ‘Cool Cats’) cementing Human Interest as my favourite new band right now without a doubt.

Of the track, the band explain:

“What started off as a string of 1AM ramblings on my Notes app became the processing of deeply personal experience which happened late 2021. The whole ethos of the song is about analysing the dark crevices of the mind and turning it into something light-hearted, almost bigger than yourself… We wanted it to sound like being in a smoky underground cabaret when all of a sudden the roof is torn off to reveal Armageddon.“

Mari Lane
@marimindles

Photo Credit: Dougie Chalmers

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Track Of The Day: The Empty Page – ‘Dry Ice’

Inspired by pre-lockdown nightlife, ‘Dry Ice‘ by Manchester’s The Empty Page is a love letter to the sweaty, hedonistic club nights that, despite the world gradually opening up again, haven’t quite returned to their former glory.

From the first bars, the track captures the essence of glowsticks in a dark room, the woozy joy of seeing their shine blurred by smoke and alcohol. But the sweetness of it is underlined by a sad sense of nostalgia brought on by the sheer distance of the memory. The lyrics follow the narrative of a night out, but in a way that feels like the hungover snatches of it that flash back to you later on; the verses capture those moments that stay with you one at a time, a blissful blur of strings and synths between them.

The Empty Page have chosen their moments perfectly – they’ve selected those liminal experiences that stay with you because of their simplicity. The smell of sweat and hairspray spilling out into the fresh air through an open door, the luxury of dressing up only to mess up that perfect outfit before you get home, the carbs you desperately need on your wobbly way home. The track hits those universal moments that are never the highlight of a night out, but are the very familiar beats that it’s all too easy to feel nostalgic about now. All these elements throughout the verses culminate in the pure hedonistic joy of being lost in the chorus; the wailing vocals and screaming guitars ramp up into that heady moment of pure euphoria when you forget who you are and just get caught in the crowd and the music.

‘Dry Ice’ highlights the magic in those simple moments. It effortlessly recreates the sense of togetherness that comes from being in a room full of strangers dancing as one. In the limbo between pre and post pandemic activities, the song is both a celebration and commiseration, with a conflicting but captivating emotional kick.

Kirstie Summers
@ActuallyKurt

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