Imogen Clark is more road-hardened and wise than most performers twice her age, and with her new six-track EP The Making Of Me – due for release August 21st – the 25-year-old has translated the whole of who she is on record for the first time.
“My whole career, I’ve felt beholden to other people’s ideas of who I am or what my music should be, people who still treat me like a little girl after twelve years of playing and writing. Now I’m punching my way out of that box, not letting anyone else define me and embracing all of who I am and the kinds of music I love,” describes Clark.
In August 2019, Imogen had just returned from back-to-back European and North American tours, followed by a series of co-writes that acted as de-facto therapy sessions, reflecting a volatile period in her life.
“I’d just ended the most serious romantic relationship of my life. I was doubting every decision I’d made, who I was as a person and my path forward as an artist. One night I couldn’t get to sleep and sat down at my friend’s piano in London and wrote the song The Making of Me, which became my manifesto. If I could make it through this year, the version of me that survived was going to be stronger, sharper and more complete, and ready to embrace all the parts of me that other people had rejected,” says Clark.
Imogen’s newfound confidence led to a new comfort with collaboration, for an artist who had previously struggled to click with other songwriters.
“In the past, I’d ended up in so many writing sessions where someone was trying to turn me into some generic pop diva or a mouthpiece for their own vision. It couldn’t have been more different with the women I wrote these songs with. Alex Lahey, Emma Swift, Anita Lester, Clare Bowen; we all quickly found these deep points of connection – whether it’s experiences with anxiety, douchebag men in the industry, relationships, whatever – and smashed out songs I never knew I could write.”
With a broad range of influences across the musical spectrum – although with Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift as constant touchstones – the sonic references for the EP were wide and unrestricted. “Some days, we’d be referencing Prince or Weyes Blood, next it was Chris Isaak or Maggie Rogers,” says Clark.
Recording in LA meant access to bonafide musical legends who lent their talents to the project. Rock’n’Roll Hall of Famers Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Attractions) infused the songs with their musicianship and set a tone early on in the sessions.
“Having guys whose playing I’ve been listening to my entire life come in and do their thing on my own songs was something I’ll never forget. Benmont sitting down at a Hammond Organ for ‘Inside Out’ and immediately bringing that iconic sound that I’ve loved on so many Tom Petty songs, and hearing Pete’s drums explode out of the speakers… it really blew my mind.”
Glide is proud to premiere the luminescent “Paper Boat” (below) where Clark offers a surreal quiet rage and hypnotic bliss mixing up folk and modern in the vein of Neko Case and Laura Veirs. There is a mystical quality to Clark’s songs that conjure up themes of both inspirational and healing.
“Paper Boat was written in Melbourne, Australia with stunningly talented singer/songwriter/visual artist Anita Lester, who created an equally stunning animated video for the song,” says Clark. “I met Anita last year at an awards show, and we had an instant connection. We got together to write soon after and were opening up to each other about toxic love affairs and the fear and burden that comes with them. That image of a paper boat, something that should be sturdy and protective against stormy seas, but is really thin and fragile – it seemed to encapsulate passionate but tumultuous relationships like that, where the feeling of happiness and stability could at any time give way to a terrible storm.”
