Clare Wright

Suzannah and I had never met, though we live in the same ‘hood and I had long been an admirer of Suzannah’s music. A few years ago, my husband, furniture designer/maker Damien Wright, struck up a friendship with Suzannah after being introduced by a mutual friend. Damien made Suzannah a dining room table; she wrote a song called ‘Mr Right’. In August 2014, Damien asked Suzannah to sing at the Melbourne memorial service of his aunt and godmother, Sister Philomene Tiernan, who was killed in the MH17 disaster. I was unable to attend the service.

Damien later encouraged me to get in touch with Suzannah, who had much younger children than ours, as he knew she was coming to grips with some motherhood issues. I had recently given a talk at a Wheeler Centre event called Epic Fail, in which eight professionally ‘successful’ people discussed a moment of personal failure.  I had used the opportunity to ‘come out’ about my battle with postnatal depression.

Suzannah Espie

I had mentioned in passing to Clare’s husband Damien that I had decided to write an album about my struggles with motherhood, and coming to terms with all that entailed as a creative person and a woman in these times. Straight away, he said ‘you need to talk to Clare’ – and then a link to Clare’s Epic Fail talk at the Wheeler Centre arrived in a message from her.

I was struck by so many things that Clare said about the way she felt, and by how similar my feelings had been – but above all what spoke to me were the words ‘I’m sorry, I’ve failed’. That pretty much summed it up for me; it was the root of so many conflicting feelings – confusion, anger and loneliness – I was experiencing as a new mother.

That phrase became the bones of the song, and ultimately very little else was added – the words of Clare’s talk helped me to distill an idea, a sentiment that I knew I wanted to express. I’m not sure I would’ve got there without Clare’s words.

Months later, and after our collaboration finished up, Clare and I had a cup of tea. We got down to the nitty gritty pretty quickly. On one level, we knew each other quite well given that we’d never met. I wish I could have had these kinds of conversations back then; things may have been very different.

Facebook messages

Prologue

Clare Wright and Suzannah Espie met for the first time on 25 June 2015.  They drank cups of tea and ate custard doughnuts at Clare’s kitchen bench, and discovered striking similarities in their childhoods and upbringings.

Suzannah Espie launches the single ‘I’m Sorry’ – from a forthcoming album about motherhood called Mother’s Not Feeling Herself Today – with a string of shows beginning this weekend.  

Clare Wright will reprise her speech at the first of those (this Sunday 12 July at the Post Office Hotel in Coburg).

Sunday 12 July 2015:

And the good ship I'm Sorry is launched! @wheelercentre @SuzannahEspie pic.twitter.com/FhuQ0399hp

— Clare Wright (@clareawright) July 12, 2015

* APRA – the Australasian Performing Right Association – is a copyright collective that manages songwriting and performance royalties.

(Images and video of Suzannah Espie by Chris Franklin)