As the 34-year-old adjusts to life after Scarlett O’Connor, she’s preparing to take centre stage under her own name on a full-time basis.
This past August saw the release of her eponymous debut LP – a record, by all accounts, that has been a considerably long time coming. “This has been about five-and-a-half years in the making,” Bowen says.
“There was part of me that honestly thought that it might never come out, just because we were taking everything so slowly. It’s a long time. To be fair, working full-time on network television does have its commitments – every spare pocket of time that I’ve had has been the only chance to get it done. In retrospect, I was grateful for that time – it meant that I was really able to put together an album that’s truly me.”
Clare Bowen mines a mix of folk, country and pop to create something emotive, sweetly-melodic and immediately accessible. It comes after years of writing, re-writing and scenic changes to create something Bowen confidently affirms to be reflective of her own life and personality.
“This album comes together over a lot of different places,” she says. “Take ‘Lullabye’ for instance, that started shortly after I moved to Nashville, and it ended with a different co-writer during a snowstorm in Woodstock. I don’t think there was any singular moment where I realised that the sound of the record was coming together.
“If anything, the songs built off one another. There are definitely songs on the record that couldn’t have existed if I hadn’t written other songs on the record first.”
Although the album bares solely Bowen’s name, she’s the first to admit she didn’t go it alone. Co-writers for the album included the likes of country songwriter Wyatt Durette, frequent Ed Sheeran-collaborator Amy Wadge and Nashville-based musician Justin Halpin. Bowen considers all of her co-writers for the record as close friends and confidants, all instrumental elements in making the album what it is.
“Writing with your friends is such a privilege,” she says. “All of these people are so close to my heart, and they understand me and my story. They’re willing to go the distance with me. It can be difficult as a songwriter if you’re not willing to share parts of yourself. You need to find people that you can open up to, so that there’s no inhibition there.”
Bowen is currently in the midst of a national tour of her native Australia to support the album, which rolls into Melbourne this week and she gets particularly excited when speaking about the current run of shows.
“It’s a big old party,” she says. “It’s a full band – my brother Timothy is playing with us, and hopefully we can steal his wife Christina away for some shows too. My husband Brandon [Robert Young] is playing with us as well. We sing songs from the album, songs from Nashville and a few covers as well. People laugh with us, cry with us and sing with us – and everybody ends up dancing.”
Bowen shares an anecdote from a show earlier this year where she saw two separate people in the same row begin to cry at the same time. “She looked around to see if anyone noticed,” Bowen says. “And one person did, five seats away.”
The fact these people were complete strangers didn’t matter – in that moment Bowen was a vessel for their emotions, and it’s not something she takes lightly. “The thing about my music is that I want it to bring people together,” she says. “I have this interesting childhood and this interesting story of my life. It’s no better and no worse than anyone else’s; it’s just different.
“The more you share your story – especially if it’s not easy to talk about – the more you can promote togetherness and belonging. You can feel like you’re not alone and others have these experiences. I think music is why I’m still here.”
