As the music industry focuses on Sydney for Pacific Circle Music, numerous Australian acts are hoping they'll be judged the Next Big Thing by the various managers, execs and agents jetting in from overseas. But while these young guns practice their thousand-yard stares and master the art of leaping off the drum riser, a former next Big Thing is quietly slipping back into the spotlight.

Jodi Phillis gained no shortage of experience through The Clouds. Breaking through in the indie-pop explosion of '91, thanks to the sharpened tunes and close harmonies of Phillis and fellow singer/songwriter Tricia Young, the Clouds went on to have top 10 albums, a loyal live following and a concerted shot at breaking the US. After they parted ways last year, Phillis lay low, giving birth to her daughter Ivy and considering her next musical move.

Drawing on the coterie that played on her 1996 solo album, Lounge-O-Sound, Phillis hooked up with two old friends, former Verys members Greg Hitchcock (also ex- You Am I) and Tim Oxley. Adding the Clouds' final drummer, Raphael Wittingham, the quartet settled into a residency at Newtown's Sandringham Hotel under the moniker of The Dearhunters.

"I was a bit apprehensive about returning to a group," admits Phillis, "but with this band everyone has their own lives and their other projects. It's all very free, we don't even try to rehearse too much. Whereas the Clouds was this little world that didn't really allow outsiders in."

A child has also refocussed Phillis' priorities. "Touring in a van is not a possibility anymore," she admits. "You have to think about the comfort levels more. You also have to start thinking about having something else to back up your musical career."

Nonetheless, The Dearhunters have already visited the recording studio, emerging with the as yet unreleased Red Wine and Blue, an album Phillis describes as "easy listening, very mellow".

So is she prepared for the elder stateswoman of alternerock tag ? "I guess I'll end up being labelled that," Phillis laughs, "although I don't feel like it yet."