Kirsten's golden journey

Singer Kirsten Morrell. Photo / Supplied

You probably know her as the stunning redhead with the distinctive, sweet-sounding voice from New Zealand band Goldenhorse.

And Kirsten Morrell is all that. But you may not know that she's also a gutsy environmentalist with a sharp political mind who refuses to rest on her laurels and the comfortable notoriety her band has brought her for nearly a decade.

On May 10, Morrell will release her debut solo album Ultraviolet, a beautifully crafted collection of playful electro-pop and intricate brooding melodies.

The new chapter in the singer-songwriter's musical journey comes two-and-a-half years after the last Goldenhorse album, Reporter, and eight years since the band's hugely successful debut, Riverhead. The album spent more than 70 weeks in the local charts and is now largely considered one of the top Kiwi albums ever made.

So it is with a slight sense of trepidation but a huge heap of excitement that Morrell is finally going it alone.

"I did feel at one point like I was on a bit of a precipice and I asked myself 'What am I doing?' I had massive self-doubt," she admits.

"But I pulled through that. I have been so lucky to have people around me helping get the album finished. I think that built my confidence and made me think, 'Yeah, I'm doing the right thing'."

It seems only natural that Morrell should find it daunting stepping from the safety of a band that has helped shape New Zealand music history into the lone spotlight. But at the same time she's clearly relishing the opportunity to shine on her own.

"During Goldenhorse things were a little rough. I got messed around a little, so I took that situation and I turned it around. The first five years of the band was really just touring and that's full on. It's a totally natural progression to want to split up and to not want to see those people for a very long time," she laughs.

Goldenhorse has never officially declared itself defunct. Instead, the band's time-out has been described as a hiatus, a space for Morrell to spread her wings while the rest of the group focus on other projects.
But there is no denying where it all began for the Auckland-based singer, who formed Goldenhorse with Geoff Maddock, fresh from his own band Bressa Creeting Cake, on a whim to play at a friend's wedding in the late 90s.

Morrell hardly bats an eyelid when asked if she's worried about going up against well-known Kiwi artists Anika Moa, Dane Rumble, amd Hollie Smith, who have all released top five albums in the past few months.
If there is pressure for this album to do well, it doesn't stem from the fear of being compared to her contemporaries.

"I'm always measuring myself against Goldenhorse albums because I've got three of those. I think I have captured elements of Riverhead but Riverhead, for me, sits there like a kind of a music bible," she says. "Nick Bollinger put the most amazing write-up about my voice in the New Zealand Music Book how can I live up to that?"

It is perhaps for that reason that there are touches of Goldenhorse about Ultraviolet which, like Riverhead, has "longevity for the listener".

But, as you'd hope, it also comes with Morrell's own unique stamp, evident in the quiet intimacy of tracks such as Better, the quirkiness of Town of My Bones and the raw emotion of Marianne.

"I think it was an intentional move to make things sonically beautiful. I'd previously been listening to a lot of new music - Sufjan Stevens and DeVotchKa, that Mexican band from Little Miss Sunshine - and a lot of film music and I thought, 'I like that softer sound'."

And her efforts have not gone unnoticed on the international stage, with Morrell revealing that she's been asked to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival next month, alongside some of the biggest names in music, such as Paul McCartney, Pink, Blondie and Florence and the Machine.

"It's quite exciting," she beams. "All the way from little old New Zealand."

It's a fitting tribute to an album made both here and her birthplace, London, which reflects the same cultural divide that has run throughout much of Morrell's life. She moved to New Zealand with her family when she was 12. She has returned to Britain frequently over the years and in fact sought inspiration for Ultraviolet on a trip to Scotland to trace her roots.

"I got inspired by the Scottish Colourists when I was in Edinburgh. There were these huge, massive beautiful colourful paintings, sort of Impressionist, but not; more down-to-earth kind of working class reflections. I was looking at this work and recording this album at the same time," she explains.

Morrell's connection with the UK and the fact that she's making headway internationally with her music begs the question why make Auckland home? She acknowledges that musically London would be a better place to be based: "But then again, I think we have such a small music industry and there's so much going on here. I can't really pass it up," she adds.

Aside from that, and despite the slight British tinge to her accent, there is something irrepressibly Kiwi about Morrell. She offers it's possibly her desire for freedom and independence. "The part of me that is a Kiwi is definitely a freedom fighter. I look for that feeling of retreat and openness."

It explains her ongoing public support for the charities Greenpeace, Oxfam and Fair Trade and the ease with which she discusses political issues of local and national importance, such as her views on the future of Auckland as it thunders towards amalgamation.

"I went on the hikoi and have supported the Supercity protests. I would love to see Auckland become a city, a little bit like London, where you have an integrated transport system and people are cycling around."

Then there is the contentious issue of mining conservation land.

"I don't back any movement, but if Greenpeace wanted me to lie down in front of a bulldozer to protest mining, I would."

And whaling? "I'm just aghast that we could possibly go back to whaling."

She is not worried at the prospect of being labelled a celebrity do-gooder, a Kiwi Bono if you like.

"Better than listen to him be miserable about his life over a jar of whiskey, I say, which is what I'd be doing if I wasn't involved in political activity."

Plus, she says her support for environmental causes over the past three years has provided a platform and helped to shape Ultraviolet, which appropriately falls during New Zealand Music Month, the annual celebration of Kiwi music that's been running for a decade now.

"It's so timely - it's also been 10 years that I've been making music," she smiles.

Morrell speaks fondly of the industry that she's been so much a part of for those years. She describes it as "supportive in a number 8 wire kind of way", laughing as she remembers picking up Jol Mulholland, who produced Ultraviolet, from customs in Heathrow carrying a massive duffel bag with half a recording studio inside.

But she admits it would be nice to be given the massive grants that overseas artists get.

"It's totally incomparable when I hear stories of people having $250,000 music videos made.

"I went to London in December and shot the video Ghosts and it was a real London/Kiwi team effort. Helena Brooks, the director, is in with Ridley Scott Productions, she pulled some people together, I pulled in some contacts, my brother did the frame stop animation. And we made a fantastic video on a Kiwi budget."

Morrell also finds it exciting that she's releasing her album at a time when music made by women is doing so well in New Zealand, arguably better than it's ever done.

"I think it shouts necessity," she says of what has until recently been a male-dominated industry. "But also, maybe it reflects what's going on internationally. The Isle of Wight Festival is just an example of how many women are doing things. Also, I think it harks back to our pioneering roots.

"Maybe five years ago I would have said it's got to be about bands and male and females working alongside each other. And I still think the same because my kick-start in music was being really firm in the belief that it's nice to have a combination. But now, I guess it's just what it is."

Morrell acknowledges a career in music comes at a cost, particularly for female artists. Because of health issues, she made the decision very early on to make it her life.

"I think as a female you are faced with a biological dilemma. I didn't have that because I experienced endometriosis from the age of 18 to 28. I've had two major surgeries. So from an early age, I threw off the idea of maybe having a more traditional family with kids. I just thought music [and] writing albums."

You get the feeling Morrell's perfectly content with her lot right now. And who wouldn't be? She's just embarked on the next part of what's so far been a golden journey, a path that promises to only shine brighter as she walks it alone.

Kirsten Morrell's debut solo album Ultraviolet is in shops May 10. Morrell will also perform at various gigs through New Zealand Music Month.