It’s hard to imagine someone feeling noncommittal and nonchalant about Australian indie rock sensation Imogen Clark. But apparently some knucklehead took her for granted, resulting in these defiant lines from her new single “Nonchalant”:
I guess you’re too cool to want me enough
Just know I won’t be waiting, you’re so nonchalant
The music pundits who insist that rock is dead haven’t listened to Imogen lately. Her songs compare favorably to the best of The Pretenders and, yes, even The Boss himself.
“I wrote ‘Nonchalant’ at the start of the year, burning with turmoil over this guy who was keeping me on the hook and watching me squirm,” says Imogen. “It was tearing me apart and I brought that energy into the session. Every time I’ve played this live, women come up to me and tell me I need to release it, so I decided to get this out there for all the people who need a place to put their feelings about a fuckboy in their life.”
Imogen Clark has more talent and energy than one continent can handle. “Nonchalant” may be her key to conquering the charts in America and England, too.
You have a fabulous vocal on “Nonchalant” that reminds me of all-time greats like Chrissie Hynde and Liz Phair. Growing up, who were your favorite singers?
Well first off, I will take both of those huge compliments. I love both of them. As a kid, it was a lot of classic rock – I loved Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin – and then as a teenager I discovered Joni Mitchell, who has been a gigantic influence on every part of me as an artist and as a woman. Her melodies are so adventurous and demanding. Learning her songs really expanded what I was capable of as a vocalist and it’s the other end of the raw power kind of rock singers like Chrissie and Bruce Springsteen that I love.
“Enemy” sounds like the best Bruce Springsteen song not written by Bruce Springsteen! What’s the backstory on that song?
Do you want to join my PR team? Seriously, these are the most complimentary interview questions I’ve ever had. Bruce was definitely in the mix as a vibe reference when I wrote that song with Alex Lahey. That relentless, propulsive, cathartic energy in songs like “Dancing in the Dark” and “Born to Run,” but from a young woman’s perspective. I’ve loved Alex since her first singles came out a few years ago – the way she mixes lyrics about self-doubt with such a balls-out musical energy. We were both in the US touring around the same time in 2019 and I went to her Nashville show on a night off. We hung out afterwards and then when we were back in Australia a few months later we got together and wrote this song. It’s about being gaslit and reclaiming your spirit by breaking out of a toxic relationship, and it’s been the set-closer in my shows for a couple of years now. It was great to get into the studio at the start of this year with that indie rock supergroup my producer Joji and I put together and try to capture that live energy on the record.
Whose idea was it to have Adam Newling featuring on “Enemy”?
My producer Joji Malani, who is himself a brilliant guitarist and was a founding member of Gang of Youths, suggested him when we were brainstorming who to bring in for the session. I loved Adam’s music as a singer-songwriter which is more acoustic-driven, but he plays guitar for Ruby Fields and Joji knew he could bring that atmospheric, unpredictable Neil Young lead guitar vibe to the track, which is important for the dynamics of a song like this which has a very consistent chord progression basically on a loop through the whole song (Tom Petty ‘Free Falling’ style). It was so cool watching Adam pull different sounds and develop little snatches of licks into phrases and lead lines, like we were chasing after them. He’s also such a sweet dude, as was everyone on that song, just a super fun day in the studio.
You’re currently on a “100 Shows In 100 Days” tour of Australia. Are you exhausted yet…and what show has been your favorite on this grueling tour?
Well firstly we actually just wrapped the tour recently, but in answer to your question – oh my god, yes I am completely exhausted. I used to play a lot of shows every year before the pandemic, probably at least 70-something a year, but that’s over a whole year. The idea to do the 100 Shows in 100 Days was to make up for all the shows I couldn’t play in 2020 and 2021 because of the lockdowns and venues being shut. It’s got to be one of the craziest things I’ve undertaken as an artist, but I feel like I totally have my road legs back now, and getting to do that variety of different kinds of shows was such a treat. I think my fave gig was at this tiny punk club in Newtown in Sydney called MoshPit. For some of these shows, I was playing with an all-female punk band named Downgirl as my band. I wouldn’t call myself a punk singer by any stretch, but there’s an element of that in the attitude in some of my songs, and it’s so incredibly freeing and cathartic to lean into that with the girls in that band, just go balls-out and blow my voice out.
