Gabriella Cohen is one of the most critically-revered Australian singer-songwriters of her generation.
Critical acclaim for Cohen’s latest album Blue No More – and the rest of her oeuvre – has often referred to the songwriter as a voice for young women, detailing the journey through young adulthood.
Her engaging perception stems largely from what has been a rather transitory existence; she left her Brisbane hometown and first band, The Furrs, to move to Melbourne, then left Melbourne for a stint in a “shotgun house” in New Orleans. She says the nomadic existence of a touring musician is very normal to her, and makes her a better writer.
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“I am deeply honoured if I can inspire or encourage any women (and anyone) out there in any way,” she says.
“I think most musicians can appreciate the love affair with the road. I mean, just the fact alone you can re-create yourself in front of an audience, in a new city each night is pretty amazing. I’d say some of the most cherished times I’ve had were solidly touring around the USA with great friends… feels like freedom. I’m most creative when I’m on the move; dare I say I write better songs when I’m living out of a suitcase. Can you tell I miss it…?
Music, somewhat remarkably, wasn’t even Cohen’s first desire. She initially wanted to be an actress, a dream that became reality when she played a version of herself in Paris Funeral, 1972. The debut film from Brisbane director Adam Briggs, featuring an aptly itinerant Italian drifting through Australia, France and Italy, premiered at the Brisbane International Film Festival last year.
“Being an actress was my first dream. We didn’t really act. There were no actors.. we were all just playing versions of ourselves. The film is a beautifully avant garde piece of cinema, shot on 16mm film in France, Italy, and Melbourne and Brisbane. The whole process was bizarre, revealing, shocking, go watch it! Just the fact that I can now say I’ve been in a movie…I’m going to use that line a lot.”
One of the deeper emotional wells for Cohen to draw on was her time living in the French Quarter of New Orleans, a time she’s previously referred to as “down and out” – a description she now laughingly dismisses.
“Oh the tragedy,” she laughs. “New Orleans is a brilliant, thriving place. I was just in a different place.
“Lesson learnt was not to prolong an experience because you think that something good might come along. Sometimes you just gotta get on outta there.”
“I mean, there were good bits, but overall I was in a very null place with writing and stuck for solace and inspiration.”
Upon returning to Melbourne from the United States, Cohen moved to St Kilda, where she continued to forge her own path, working in a fish and chip shop and slinging hot dogs on Elwood beach, among other things.
“I returned from New Orleans and moved to St Kilda,” she explains. “It was a pretty strange and hilarious time, having come back from endless touring to suddenly living by the bay in Melbourne.
“Thanks to my thousand of years of hospitality experience, I snagged a humbling job at a fish and chip shop, we only opened when it was sunny. I could ride my bike along the beach to work. I wore pink overalls. Customers would ask me when I was finishing high school. I made friends with the elderly clientele. Really enjoyed memorising their coffee orders. Nearly got good at making frappes…you know!”
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Given the immense diversity of her storytelling, Cohen values the importance of trying replicate the various emotional states she experienced when writing songs, when she performs them. For a constant traveller, it’s not always that easy though.
“If you can, for sure, although it might be a bit unrealistic. I think there’s beauty in singing a song you’ve sung hundreds of times and then, to look back at the audience who are having their own personal experience with it.
“I’m constantly in awe that someone could interpret it in a whole new light, a whole new feeling, so I marry that to the original feeling and go about my way.”
Now she’s back on Melbourne stages, transporting captivated audiences in glorious local venues like the Brunswick Ballroom, where she’ll play July 14. Grab your tickets by heading here.
This article was made in partnership with Brunswick Ballroom.
