[4] Rock critic Will Hermes described it as 'a holy-glowing dreamscape of smoke-clouded guitars, loping basslines and tantric drums that channel a history of sound recordings, from delta blues to chiaroscuro surf reveries, haunted pop ballads to modern bloodied valentines'[5] in his liner notes.

Lovers Dreamers Fighters was published by HarperCollins in February 2022, "a memoir of coming-of-age on screen and in song that also pays tribute to the iconic Australian women—writers, rebels, activists and fellow musicians—who lit her way".

[7] The book features chapters focussed on heroic police corruption whistleblower Sallie-Anne Huckstepp (who Carmen portrayed in docudrama Blue Murder,[8] Suzi Sidewinder, who shared her final months living with AIDS in award winning[9] documentary "Suzi's Story"[10] to help combat fear and ignorance about the disease, trailblazing artists Wendy Saddington, Robyn Archer, Renee Geyer and Carmen's paternal grandmother, who was an unmarried mother and survivor of the forced adoption policy, as well as stories about pioneering performers Etta James, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Janis Joplin, Marilyn Monroe, Billie Holiday, Little Richard, Leonard Cohen and Kris Kristofferson.

[11] She is the daughter of rock-jazz-blues pianist Peter Head, member of prog rockers Headband and founder of bohemian country music collective The Mount Lofty Rangers,[12] and Mouse, a textile artist and former film and television seamstress.

[15] The family moved to Sydney's red light district King's Cross and Carmen attended a small alternative high school, dropping out after completing Year 10.

[20] Carmen was cast as the "wild and haunted"[21] Freya Olson in John Duigan's The Year My Voice Broke (1987) after the director met her in the pizza bar where she worked, aged sixteen.

Her performance, and that of her co-stars Noah Taylor and Ben Mendelsohn, was described as "deeply memorable, central characters [that] are played by a trio of fine actors in the formative stages of their careers".

'Torch rock' 8 piece band Automatic Cherry[35] formed in 1995, with McMahon and Clarke as backing singers, who told Zan Rowe in 2018 'I've had a long musical association with Loene'.

[36] The band also featured musicians Jim Bowman (ex Ed Kuepper), Jon Schofield (ex Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls), Cathy Green (X), Peter Head and James Cruickshank (Cruel Sea).

The album also had tinges of old school country, soul, and blues, and featured freeform lyrical journeys through imaginary worlds populated by loudspeakers, foxy ladies, horoscopes, dark bedrooms, rivers, shadows, fortune-telling machines, instincts, and destinies.'

In 2004, second album, Slight Delay, described as 'a songbook of exquisitely mournful blues elements and intoxicating rock romantics... intimate shimmering confessionals'[43] featuring Jed Kurzel and Warren Ellis was released on Reverberation Records.

[48] The album was produced with Burke Reid and recorded with musicians from teenage punk band The Scare[49] and long time collaborator Sam Worrad from The Holy Soul on bass.

[51] A very limited edition CD only EP Hard Candy Christmas (2010) released under the name Sweet Carmo featured country classics by artists such as Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette.

After relocating to Georgia in 2012 while partner Aden Young shot Sundance television series Rectify, Carmen wrote and released The Peach State (2012), a suite of solo country songs, recorded in Nashville with long time Johnny Cash engineer David Ferguson.

[61] The album was self-produced and recorded in Sydney over one day by Wade Keighran with musicians Ken Gormly from The Cruel Sea, Cec Condon from The Mess Hall on drums and Sam Worrad on guitar.

[62] Global Texan Chronicles called it "shadowy and palpable Lou Reed-esque honky tonk realism with so much rare and raw individuality that it takes you aback at first listen",[63] and described Carmen as "a true storyteller".

Glide Magazine described it as 'gorgeous twangy pedal steel, sensual vocals, haunting guitar and harmonies, and a drumbeat that conveys a quiet loneliness'[66] A music video for second single "Sometimes Its Hard" (featuring Bonnie 'Prince' Billy) was released on 26 October 2017.

[71] Carmen's eighth album Transatlantic Light, again recorded with Ken Gormly, Sam Worrad and Cec Condon under the banner The Great Beyond, also featured guest appearances from Robyn Hitchcock and Peter Head, and was released in September 2024.

[72] Carmen has toured and opened shows for Kevin Morby,[73] Gareth Liddiard (The Drones), Kim Salmon, Eilen Jewell, Magnolia Electric Company, Mess Hall, Paul Kelly, Dirty Three, Renee Geyer and The Secret Sisters in Australia as well as Mick Harvey and Beasts of Bourbon in Europe.

[81] Young directed the music videos for "Everyone You Ever Knew (Is Coming Back To Haunt You)", "Nashville High" and edited Carmen's "Mimic the Rain" clip.

[86] She has published articles in Rolling Stone [87] and The Guardian[88] and essays in No Depression, Talkhouse,[89]The Big Issueand Neighborhood Paper[90][91] and the anthologies Meanjin on Rock 'n' Roll: All Yesterday's Parties,[92] and in Your Mother Would be Proud: True Tales of Mayhem and Misadventure (edited by Jenny Valentish & Tamara Sheward),[93] and contributed to two of the Women of Letters collections (edited by Marieke Hardy and Michaela McGuire)'.