Imogen Clark’s *Choking on Fuel* is a raw, high-octane return to the essentials—an album that strips everything back while turning the volume all the way up. After a whirlwind year of global touring alongside legends like Robyn Hitchcock, Steve Poltz, and BOWEN \* YOUNG, the Nashville-by-way-of-Sydney artist has distilled the sweat, soul, and spirit of her live show into a collection of songs that hit just as hard from speakers as they do from the stage. With her acoustic guitar in hand and a powerhouse voice that can devastate or uplift in a single breath, Imogen delivers a body of work that’s fearless in its vulnerability and magnetic in its execution. This is Imogen Clark, unfiltered and on fire.
You describe *Choking on Fuel* as capturing the spirit of your live performances—raw, intense, and vulnerable. What was the biggest challenge in translating that energy into a studio album?
Last year, I spent so much time on the road, just me and my acoustic guitar. I’ve always loved playing with a full band, but the last few tours I’ve done have made me fall back in love with playing acoustically and really connecting with audiences through that intimate, stripped-back, story-telling format, so I wanted to capture that on this record. Sometimes it’s scary, because you’re really laying so many emotions out on the line with nothing to hide behind, but I find that vulnerability is often what people connect to most. I want to let my audiences see me with no guards up.
After a whirlwind year of touring globally, how did returning to an acoustic, stripped-back sound feel for you creatively?
It felt so good to strip things back again. I’ve always admired artists like Springsteen who can rock out with a full band, then sit under a spotlight with just a piano or an acoustic guitar and lay their soul bare to a crowd. I want to be known as someone who can do both, so I’m really enjoying getting back to my roots. After all, playing solo acoustic is how I cut my teeth in pubs and clubs around Western Sydney where I grew up, so it feels like a full circle experience.
Your new single “Squinters” has been praised for its glittering vulnerability. Can you tell us the story behind that song and how it came together with Steve Poltz?
Steve and I first met at a festival in Australia and when we were both back in Nashville, decided to sit down and write together. I had this term “squinters” ingrained in my brain from growing up in Western Sydney – it’s a nickname used to describe folks who live in Western Sydney but work in the city, as they’re always driving home into the setting sun after their 9-5 job. Steve and I ended up using that as a way of delving into my nightmare of what my life could have been had I done what many people I went to school with did; settled down with my high school sweetheart, had a bunch of kids and never left my hometown. It’s my waking nightmare in song form.
You collaborated with some legendary musicians on this record, including Mickey Raphael, Bo Koster, and Tommy Emmanuel. How did those collaborations come about, and what did they bring to the songs?
I feel so grateful to have received a “yes” from so many people I admire to be involved in this record. Micky Raphael is one of the best harmonica players on Earth, and we all know Tommy Emmanuel is rivalled by absolutely no one when it comes to his genius guitar skills. Bo Koster from My Morning Jacket played incredible keys on one of the tracks, the iconic Jim Lauderdale sang backing vocals on a song we wrote together, and there’s a duet with my amazing new friend Kezia Gill, who I toured the UK with last year. Some of these people were already in my life through touring/collaborating, but some we just cold-called and sent them the songs, and they agreed! It really felt like a way of opening up these songs even more and bringing so many people in to share in these stories.
The album seems to span a wide emotional range—from incendiary tracks like “All Hard Feelings” to the delicate wisdom of “If Your Heart Never Breaks.” Was it important for you to show all these different sides of yourself on one record?
It’s always been important to me to be more than one thing. I love and listen to so much different music and, in my opinion, the best artists throughout history have been those who have a wide range. I love classic rock like Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, I love modern pop like Taylor Swift and Maggie Rogers, and I love folk and Americana icons like Joni Mitchell and Gillian Welch. There’s a lot of different versions of me that I always want to get on the record, and I never want people to feel like they’re hearing the same song over and over again.
Press has likened you to Soccer Mommy and Lucy Dacus. How have your musical inspirations evolved as you’ve grown into your sound on this album?
Those are such kind comparisons and I love both those artists! I feel like my musical influences are always growing and expanding, which I think is very healthy for an artist. I think stripping things right back to such an intimate sound on this record has been an exciting experience for me because it reminds me to always just focus on that belief that to be a good song, it should be well-represented with just an acoustic guitar and vocal. I’ve been listening to so much Jason Isbell, particularly his new record Foxes in the Snow, while creating this album, and I think you can hear that!
The title *Choking on Fuel* is so evocative. What does it represent to you, both personally and artistically?
There’s a lyric in the song The Art of Getting Through where I say “This is the art of choking on fuel”, and that’s where the title of this record came from. To me, the “fuel” is my ambition, my drive to create and to make a career for myself in this chaotic industry, which ostensibly is a good thing, because it means I’m motivated to work hard. However, I often find that because of my tendency to work myself to the bone and burn out, or to let my mental health struggles swallow me whole, that fuel can turn into something very dangerous, something I choke on frequently. It’s a delicate balance and my relationship to my job is sometimes very complicated. I wouldn’t ever want to do anything else, but it can cause me a lot of pain.
You’ve played with iconic artists like Robyn Hitchcock and Andrew Farriss. What’s one lesson or piece of advice from touring with those legends that stayed with you while making this album?
Both of those artists were so welcoming and kind to me on the road, and I felt very grateful to open for them and watch their sets every night. Both Robyn and Andrew have had long, storied careers and they’re very much still creating, still kicking ass and most of all, still very much in love with what they do. That is inspirational to me because at 30 years old, I look into my future and hope I’ll still be so in love with making music in 10, 20 and 30 years’ time. They also both tour in a mostly stripped-back format, which reminds me that while it’s wonderful to play with a great band, the songs need to be good enough that they are just as powerful acoustically. That’s a big part of this record for me.
There’s a definite sense of place that runs through *Choking on Fuel*—whether it’s Nashville, Sydney, or the open road. How does geography and movement influence your songwriting?
I always write a lot when I’m travelling. Being on the road and seeing new places and meeting new people always inspires me. I think most of my songs tend to come out feeling tied to a certain place and time because they’re so autobiographical and I’m such a road dog, I love to tour and move around a lot. If I’m in the same place for too long, my feet get itchy. I also moved to Nashville from Australia last year and that move gave me a lot of inspiration and a lot of it seeped into these songs, the sense of a new start and a new understanding of who I am as an artist.
Now that you’ve made an album that captures your live spirit so vividly, what’s next for you creatively? Are you planning to stay in this acoustic world for a while, or are you itching to plug back in?
I have no idea what’s next! I’m constantly writing, making little notes in my phone and doing writing sessions here in Nashville. I like to write myself into a place of understanding. If I write new songs for long enough, the answer on what sort of shape the next album will take will make itself clear over time. I love not knowing, it makes it even more exciting!
