Having won international attention for her early work, Auckland singer-songwriter Gin Wigmore is on her way to bigger things. She talks to Joanna Hunkin.
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Gin Wigmore is in a very good mood. After months of coveting the guitar of her dreams - an Emmylou Harris-model Gibson - and investigating dubious ways to ship one over from America, the official dealer has finally said she can have one, offering the young songwriter a special deal on the hefty $6000 price tag.
This is excellent news, Gin explains, her giddiness spilling down the phone from Sydney, where the 21-year-old set up camp last July.
Speaking to the young songwriter, originally from Auckland's North Shore, it's hard to imagine her not in a good mood. Her voice radiates enthusiasm as she happily chats about anything and everything.
By Gin's own admission, if she is not enthusiastic about something, she is not one to stick it out.
Like the time she headed to South America on an exchange programme, to discover she had been enrolled at an all girls school run by nuns.
"That was not what I bargained for," laughs Gin, who promptly pulled out of the programme and pursued her own Argentinian experience.
"I worked in a bilingual school and went to a music college. I went snowboarding down south in Buenos Aires and really experienced Argentina." All this, at just 16 years old.
A couple of years later, back at home, Gin moved to Wellington to try her hand at uni.
With plans to attend teachers college, she made a last minute decision to major in religious studies, drawn to the paper "Chants, ecstasy and prayer".
"After about six months of being at university, I was like 'this is a bit boring, I don't think this is really me, trying to go to school each day,' so I called Mum and said, 'I'm moving to Taranaki to live with my boyfriend who you've never met'."
Safe to say, Gin is a law unto herself.
"I think that's why I'm doing music because it's the only thing that I haven't gotten sick of yet. Usually I've got an expiration of about six months on things."
Gin's fascination with music began when she was 13, when she picked up her Dad's electric guitar and taught herself to play, following an old book of guitar tabs.
"Dad got given this guitar and a deckchair for Christmas one year, from Mum ... He used the deckchair relentlessly for years and ditched the guitar. I picked it up and just taught myself."
Her father's cast-offs also helped shape Gin's vocal skills, as she sang along to his Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera soundtracks.
Within a year, she was playing live showcases at The Temple on Queen St, drawing enthusiastic crowds with her unique voice.
It's a vocal style that defies simple description and makes her stand apart from the soft hum-and-strum melodies of fellow Kiwi songbirds Anika, Bic and Brooke.
But with the pop world increasingly embracing distinctive female voices - think Amy Winehouse, Duffy or Estelle - Gin says her voice has definitely helped her career prospects. She says it has always been well received and is simply the way it sounds, naturally.
"I guess as you get older you can think about [contriving a sound] but I've been singing since I was 13. At that age you don't have a mastermind plan. It's always been like that.
"I've been really lucky that it's been accepted the whole way through. Even before Amy Winehouse and that paved the way. It's always been around. Think about all that blues and old soul. That's not a new thing."
While her voice may single her out, her exceptional songwriting skills have really sealed Gin's fate.
Her debut EP Extended Play, is a five-song collection of near perfect musicality, that includes the award-winning Hallelujah, written for Gin's late father Peter.
It was the song that saw Gin claim the grand prize at the prestigious International Songwriting Competition in 2005, winning an assortment of instruments, studio time and cash.
Another of her songs, Angelfire, won the teen category, which included a six-week scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston as part of the prize package.
"It was awesome," recalls Gin, who nearly didn't enter the competition after hesitating over the $60 entry fee. Fortunately, big sister Lucy, best known to New Zealanders as Shortland Street's Dr Justine Jones, stepped in and offered to pay it.
Though the cash and guitars were welcome, Gin says the best part of the prize package was the clarity it gave her.
"The Berklee prize, going to the school, really confirmed in my mind that I didn't want to be stuck in a school for three years learning music. It's such a natural, innate thing, music. You could train for three years and you might not come out any better."
It also introduced her to the American music industry and taught her some important life lessons.
"Going to America, I got to see the ugly sides of the music industry. The United States is this huge place and it's scary being a little Kiwi, who's 18 and getting all these offers. People chasing you down from record companies, giving you these huge, false promises.
"That was really good to learn, to take everything people say with a grain of salt. I was a bit naive at that stage so that was the best thing for me."
It also helped having her Mum alongside, who guided Gin through the hype.
"She is so down-to-earth, no bullshit, read between the lines of everything. It's great. It makes you a little more sceptical about everything, which is really good to have in you."
Not tempted by America's gilded promises of fame and fortune, Gin took her prize money and travelled through Europe, before returning Downunder and eventually signing to Island Records in Australia.
After a six-month stint on the Gold Coast, where Gin passed through a self-described "trash bag" stage, she relocated to Sydney to focus on her career. And to take advantage of the good weather.
"That was the reason for getting out of New Zealand a bit," she laughs. "Just to be warm for once."
But Gin has not forgotten her roots, deliberately choosing a New Zealand design team to create her cover art and produce her first music video.
"I love the quirky ideas of Kiwi designers and stylists. It's just something you don't see in Australia.
"People are a bit more accepting in New Zealand, to go left of field. It's a bit of a hard time battling that with the Aussies."
Given her past history, one doesn't doubt it is a battle the formidable young singer will win.
LOWDOWN
Who: Virginia "Gin" Wigmore, singer-songwriter
From: Devonport, Auckland
What: Debut EP Extended Play is on sale now, featuring the award-winning song Hallelujah.
