Meet Noah Slee, the Kiwi artist doing big things from Berlin

Noah Slee is basing himself in Berlin, and so far, his off-shore location is helping his career.

You may not have heard of Noah Slee, but the Kiwi artist is doing big things from Berlin. Chris Schulz tracks him down.

He's been based in Berlin for four years now, but Noah Slee still gets asked the same questions by locals.

"They're like, 'What are you doing here? Why would you leave New Zealand?'" he laughs.

"Most of the time, I'm like, 'Yeah, you're right'."

He's definitely starting to get homesick but Noah Slee - real name: Tau Manukia - has been busy making the most of his time in the German capital, thanks to its arts-friendly facilities and proximity to major European cities.

"It makes it easy. An hour or whatever and you're in another country."

When TimeOut calls him, Slee's just returned home from a gig at London's Village Underground supporting Brooklyn singer Gabriel Garzón-Montano.

"It was a good gig, a really good gig," he says, sipping on a celebratory glass of wine.

Slee, who started making music in local soul-funk crew Spacifix, admits it was never the plan to stay in Berlin. It just kind of happened.

"I was travelling around Europe and I was supposed to go to London (but) I really connected with Berlin and there were people there I was already making music with," he says.

"It happened pretty quickly and I decided in the moment to make this work and not leave."

So far, his overseas base is working for him. Slee has signed to chillwave record label Majestic Casual, released his soul-trap debut album Otherland, has more than half a million plays for several songs on YouTube, made several music videos and regularly travels for shows.

Berlin's so appealing it's making it hard for him to leave.

"A normal studio day here is you can dance around two or three studios in one day, because you're on your bike for 20 minutes or train for five minutes and you're in a different studio doing a different style of music. You can stretch yourself, you can experiment," he says.

It also helps that he "knows a lot of Kiwis here".

But after four years away, Slee still misses home, his family, and his friends. He's hoping to cure a little bit of his homesickness and catch some sun when he returns for a performance at January's Laneway festival.

"I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to chill (and) hang out for a few months." Besides, he adds, "it's getting super cold here".

Who: Noah Slee
Where and when: Performing at Auckland's Laneway Festival, January 29, Albert Park Precinct.
Also: New album Otherland, out now