13th Floor New Song Of The Day: Dyson Stringer Cloher – Falling Clouds

Jen Cloher, Mia Dyson and Liz Stringer have joined forces to bring you Falling Clouds.

Yesterday we featured Milk! Records recording artist Jade Imagine. Shortly after posting The 13th Floor was contacted by Milk! alerting us to this little number. We think you’ll enjoy the video as the three women dress up as a trio of 70s rockers.

Here’s the record company blurb with more:

Today, Dyson Stringer Cloher – the iconic project of three of Australia’s most accomplished and dynamic songwriters, Jen Cloher, Mia Dyson and Liz Stringer – release their new single & video ‘Falling Clouds’ out via Milk! Records / Remote Control.

‘Falling Clouds’ reminisces a time when Jen Cloher saw The Clouds and Falling Joys at an underage gig in her hometown of Adelaide in the early 90s. “You kicked the door wide open so I could walk onto that stage” Cloher sings, paying tribute to the axe wielding women in Australian music who showed those coming up that it could be done. In the same song, the band questions the absence of Australia’s female poet laureate, “Nothing against Paul or Nick, but if you want to be remembered, then you better have a dick.”

Of the video, Jen Cloher explains, “Drag has always been a fun way to explore gender through performance. ‘Falling Clouds’ examines how the rules and privileges of gender have shaped the careers of women and non binary artists in Australia. Whilst it’s a serious subject, we decided to have some fun with it. Choosing to take on three of glam rocks most revered icons, we discovered that even masculinity is a performance. Ru Paul nailed it when he said, “We’re all born naked, the rest is drag.” 

Director Annelise Hickey also comments “This project was a lot of fun to work on with Jen, Mia, Liz and our wonderful crew. In all honesty, I’m always cautious of working on music video clips where the artist has come up with the concept themselves. Sometimes the budgets are unrealistic for ambitious ideas or there’s a massive risk in creating vision for someone else’s concept only to leave them disappointed. But after listening to the track and meeting with Jen about her concept, there was something she said that stayed with me. This isn’t a direct quote but it was something like “we celebrate men being in touch with their femininity but we don’t really celebrate women exploring their masculinity.” I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy and remember strapping down my boobs when I was younger because they made me feel girly, so I was excited to explore the idea of women dressing up like men and taking it that step even further to make those characters based on gay glam rock icons (Freddie Mercury, Elton John and David Bowie). The concept was visually rich and having worked with Jen before, I knew how ballsy she would be in approaching her own performance in the clip. Asking Jen Cloher to shove a fake penis down the front of her pants was something a director probably only gets to do once so I guess I’m pretty lucky!”

In 2013, Jen Cloher, Mia Dyson and Liz Stringer came together in the spirit of collaboration and experimentation to release an all-too-brief 3-track EP. They took their music deep into the heart of the country, playing more than 40 shows across every state and territory, as well as festival performances at Byron Bay Bluesfest and Queenscliff Music Festival. Dyson Stringer Cloher was a moment in time that showed extraordinary promise. In the intervening six years they all pursued their solo careers – releasing a combined 8 studio albums, winning multiple awards and touring globally. Now, the trio mark their return with a new single & video ‘Falling Clouds’.

It’s an interesting time for women in the music industry, especially those closer to their 40’s. Trailblazers like Dyson Stringer Cloher have inspired the new wave of women and gender non conforming artists who are now finding an international audience.

Times are changing for women in Australian music, there have been casualties along the way. We can be thankful then, that Dyson Stringer Cloher have chosen to stay.