01 December 2022 - 0 Comments

Multi-award-winning artist and Milk! Records co-founder Jen Cloher today reveals the second single Being Human from their forthcoming fifth album I Am The River, The River Is Me which will be released on Friday, 3rd March 2023 via Milk! / Remote Control Records.

A powerful anthem committed to truth telling and Indigenous sovereignty, Being Human builds its intensity upon an urgent drum beat, driving bass line, angular guitars and synth. The track breaks down before bursting into an exclamation of haka chants from Naarm based Kapa Haka (cultural performance group) Te Hononga o ngā Iwi. Fittingly the accompanying clip is a spirited live video also featuring Te Hononga o ngā Iwi.

On the meaning behind the song Cloher shares "Of all the songs on this album I am most nervous about, Being Human is the one. It’s earnest and basic and raw. Reclaiming your culture is an awkward and messy business. I can see why so many people shy away from it. When you’re not living on your own lands you have to seek it out and find the people who can support you. Some of the people who have been there for me are in the music video.

In this song I locate myself on unceded Aboriginal land. Who am I? Who are my people? And how did I come to be here? Why was this an amnesia for so much of my life? And how do I live here today in a way that enacts reparations and shows my respect to the True Owners? For some it will look like virtue signalling and for others it will feel encouraging. Whatever way it lands for you is none of my business. All I know is that through telling my own story without shying away from the truth - I have connected to something so precious - a depth I didn’t know was possible. I have become useful."

The track follows first single 'Mana Takatāpui' which released November 9.

On their first album in five years, Cloher finally breathes out. I Am The River, The River Is Me, their fifth album, is verdant and rich; it luxuriates in stillness, and carries itself with cool, unfussy confidence. It suggests that home is not found in a place or a politic, but in the community you keep: Inspired by Cloher’s powerful matrilineal line of wāhine Māori, I Am The River, The River Is Me is not urgent, or hurried, but it is vital, made with the care and ease of someone who knows that their past began before birth, and will continue long after they’re gone.

I Am The River, The River Is Me is an album of remarkable generosity and grace. Recorded between Aotearoa (NZ) and Naarm (Melbourne) with producers Tom Healy (Tiny Ruins, Marlon Williams), Anika Ostendorf (Hachiku) and Cloher’s longtime drummer Jen Sholakis; the album brings in trailblazing artists including Emma Donovan (Gumbaynggirr, Yamatji), Kylie Auldist, Liz Stringer, Te Kaahu (Waikato-Tainui/Ngāti Tīpā), Ruby Solly (Kai Tahu, Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe) and members of the Naarm-based Kapa Haka, Te Hononga o ngā Iwi. The entire record feels communal — a celebration not just of Cloher, but of the rich, life-filled communities that surround them.

Pre-save / Pre-order I Am The River, The River Is Me here:
https://jen-cloher.lnk.to/iamtheriver

Jen Cloher - Being Human (Official Video) Stream / Download:
https://jen-cloher.lnk.to/beinghuman

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