Embracing her wāhine Māori roots, Jen Cloher releases the exhilarating single Being Human.
Multi-award-winning artist Jen Cloher releases her second single Being Human, which is off of her forth-coming album I Am the River, The River Is Me, set to be released on Friday 3rd March, 2023.
Being Human is an awe-empowering anthem to truth-telling and indigenous sovereignty. 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”.
Being Human is a track that does not hold back, building up in intensity with urgent drum beats, a driving bass line, and angular guitar and synth that will leave you speechless. The track reaches a moment of breakdown before bursting into an exclamation of Haka chants from Naarm-based Kapa Haka, Te Hononga o ngā Iwi.
View this post on Instagram
Accompanying the single is a spirited video clip featuring Te Hononga o ngā Iwi. The beautiful and vibrant imagery provides us with a kaleidoscope of colours, highlighting the importance of reclaiming your culture, and connecting with yourself and your lost past.
Being Human is only a taste of what is to come from Jen Cloher. With I Am The River, The River Is Me being her first album release in five years, this release is rich and verdant. It is suggested that home is not a feeling you find in a place or politic, but in the community you keep. Inspired by her powerful matrilineal ties wāhine Māori, this album was not made in a flurry but was made from a place of care by someone who knows that their past began before birth, and will continue long after they’re gone. The entire album is a celebration of the richness Jen feels within her community – and that right there is pretty amazing.
You can listen to Being Human via Spotify below.
