New mood takes wing for Runga

It's been a coming-of-age year for Bic Runga.

Bic Runga wins our album of the year for her third long-player, Birds. I talked to the singer/songwriter about her topsy-turvy year.

Congratulations. You've earned the prestigious award of TimeOut Album of the Year.

Oh, thanks, that's really nice. But it was the players that made the album. Some of them are my heroes. Like Shayne [Carter]. He's so insightful, he never says anything that's not deep. The backing vocalists had a lot to do with making the songs sound more complete. And Neil [Finn] added a lot of musical segues, like piano. My other albums don't really have solos.

So you didn't have anything to do with it?

No, not really.

C'mon. There's such a thing as being too modest. Would you agree you can be a fairly shy performer sometimes?

Well, the next step is to lose the guitar altogether and really step out, that's the next incarnation.

You've been back from Paris for a year. What do you miss the most?

I just miss the cakes. My favourite cake shop is called La Duree, it's a bit of an institution in Paris. They're famous for their macaron, which is not macaroon. Paris was a lesson in how to live, and style.

So how did you apply that when you came back?

I learned how to find things that I like. There's always a good band to see at the Kings Arms and places like Delicious on Richmond Rd, the Italian grocer on Ponsonby Rd. I really appreciate food and wine now, and just taking it easy. Life's too short to be worrying about stuff.

What sort of a year have you had?

It's been one of those coming-of-age type years where you see the wood from the trees. There's been a focus on family and friends. I've started to regard friends as the most important thing in my life so this has been one of the most social years I've had. It's also been about roots and going back to where my father [who died this year] was from and burying him in Mahia. And planning a trip to China in January with my mother and my sister.

Does the personal side of the album make it difficult for you to listen to it?

Because it was such a collaboration I can, because it feels like a nice time. It wasn't stressed at all. It's not fraught. It's sitting pretty well and it feels like its own beast, like it's got a life of its own, this propulsion.

What was so special about recording at Monte Cecilia?

It was such a great, grand, open space. There's a little Catholic primary school next door and the little kids were really nice to have around. Every morning we'd drive up and they'd be doing little choreographed dances outside on the lawn. 'Hi Bic!' One day two classes of 5 and 6-year-olds came in and got a tour of the studio. It was the funniest. Like, 'Okay, now Bic's going to play electric guitar.'

Why did you produce the album yourself?

If you have one objective and steer the ship towards that then you can't go wrong. It's all the disparate opinions in the studio where records go wrong. You may as well just stick to one sense of taste - your own.

Any New Year resolutions?

I'd really like to make a rock'n'roll record. I'm interested in different vocal styles. I'm listening to a lot of Yoko Ono at the moment. And she just shrieks. You sing quite low on Ruby Nights.

I wanted to sing lower. I find my own songs quite hard to sing, they're always a bit too high for me. It's probably because I can only play the guitar in A minor and that's not really my key. The keys for horns had more of a funeral procession-like dirge.

That's a bit dark. Which is partly why Birds feels like a brave move. It's so ...

Nostalgic? Yeah, I really like nostalgia. It's a bit whimsical and corny but there's nothing nicer than going right into a song and being transported by it. A good song has its own environment.

What sort of discussions did you have with the Finns about music?

Just to try to be bold, to not make a lukewarm decision, to make definite statements even if you don't please everyone with them.

* Tomorrow on www.nzherald.co.nz: TimeOut's 30 best albums of 2005