Biography of Clare Bowditch & The Feeding Set

On Sunday October 29 2006, Clare Bowditch topped off a remarkable year by being voted the Best Female Artist at the 2006 ARIA awards. While the majority of the viewing audience that night would have been saying to themselves “Who the hell is Clare Bowditch”, those that have fallen in love with the intricate arrangements of her compelling stories-via-songs were gently nodding their head in the recognition of such a wonderful album as What Was Left.

But lets back-track a little . . .

After returning full of verve from a year in exchange at a Canadian University, our young heroine won an Arts Vic grant to record her first solo album with a working title of Birds and Boats. It was to be a field recording of common sounds of the suburbs mixed with her own melodies and lyrics bringing in some of the concepts she had learnt from her ethnomusicology and radio documentary classes. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending how much you appreciate experimental music) as work started with her producer Marty Brown, who she had gleaned from her previous band Red Raku, the album became the mysterious yet occasionally light-hearted acoustic piece Autumn Bone which was released independently in 2004… And suddenly Miss Bowditch was away! Glowing reviews, constant RRR, JJJ and other community radio airplay gave her a national audience prompting relentless touring including support slots with Cat Power, Elvis Costello and Pete Murray plus performances at Meredith, Queenscliff and Port Fairy Music Festivals.

In October 2005, Clare Bowditch and the Feeding Set released their second album What Was Left. It followed on so naturally from where Autumn Bone left off. There were still some breezy acoustic pop moments, there was the same not-quite-fathomable instrumentation with an unassuming originality, an incredible narrative sensibility and an uncanny ability to tell stories as achingly personal as they