Drifting
by Phoebe Rings
Fronted by Crystal Choi, this well-connected local quartet (Princess Chelsea, Tiny Ruins, Jonathan Bree) and with solo side-projects, is like a low-key indie supergroup. But as Phoebe Rings they craft an often sublime and weightless dream-pop of synths and uplifting bass behind Choi’s breathy vocals. Drifting – with suggestions of sophisticated European pop – is ideally named as it ebbs and flows on the breeze. Arrives with the even more languid and deftly funky Aseurai, a Korean language song – meaning a gentle lingering feeling – previously released and the title track of the forthcoming album (June 6). Niceness in lovely large quantities. – Graham Reid
Post High Slide
by Mel Parsons
Taite Prize nominee for her album Sabotage, Mel Parsons drops this musically upbeat if somewhat pessimistic non-album single in advance of the awards and her national tour starting in May: “Post-high slide I know that it’s coming . . . it’ll come and go I know”. Sounds like she’s setting herself up for accepting disappointment but in fact it’s how she feels after touring: “I’d come home and thump back down to earth after a sustained period of excitement and adventure.” Catch her – and the video – before the slump. – Graham Reid
Heavenly Wheel
by Ringlets
Crunchy, staccato tones from Auckland’s Ringlets – a band known for their polished guitar work. Sparkly harmonics start things off, before the heavier, low frequency chords of the chorus. The music video (see below) features the band re-enacting various Sisyphean tasks: Pushing said “heavenly wheel” up a massive sand dune, and endlessly circling a decaying pine tree. Their second album, The Lord Is My German Shepherd (Time For Walkies) is out in June via Flying Nun Records. – Sam Clark
I Come With Mud
by Men I Trust
Simple and sweet, with a touch of Western from Canadian indie band Men I Trust. Vibrato lead guitar is a nice touch – contrasting the dreamy production. The riff is played a bit like Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra’s Some Velvet Morning – giving it a certain cinematic quality. New album Equus Asnius out now. – Sam Clark
Savannah
by Jensen McRae
Inspired by Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell, Alicia Keys and other intelligent folksy women writers, Californian singer-songwriter McRae drops this third, impressive story-song in advance of her second album I Don’t Know How but They Found Me! (April 25). Rescuing herself from a bad relationship she flees to Savannah having found a new love, but the past haunts. From self-belief to bitterness, she covers a lot of emotions in three-and-a-half crafted minutes. The song she feels most represents the album, which therefore sounds like a must-hear. – Graham Reid
Been So Long
by Durand Jones and the Indications
This “bisexual dude” from the tiny town of Hillaryville, Louisiana has been in the vanguard – alongside Sharon Jones, the Dap Kings, Lee Fields, and others – of reviving the sound of classic soul from the 1960s and 1970s: Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and the rest. Been So Long touches on the adult spirit of smooth bands like the Chi-Lites, Stylistics and O’Jays which reflects their maturity and announces a new album Flowers (June 27). Nice clip evoking the period too. Dim the lights. – Graham Reid
Picture Window
by Japanese Breakfast
Lovely, country-infused indie rock from Philadelphia band Japanese Breakfast. Slide guitar fills in where you’d expect to hear synths – and it’s a great substitute. Lead singer Michele Zauner sounds great, creating a shoegazey soundscape, much like her previous records. Alt-country is certainly making a comeback. Their new album For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) is out now via Dead Oceans and is reviewed in the latest issue of the Listener. They’re also playing Auckland Town Hall on June 7. – Sam Clark
Speaking Frankly
by Elliott Dawson
With a voice which seems balanced on the edge of a precipice and full of desperate anxieties, Pōneke-based Dawson has mastered the art of drama and wraps his quivering power with swathes of percussion and abrasive guitars to thrill, challenge and delight on this arresting single which signals his sophomore album Certain Death (April 4). Note his name and release date in your diary. – Graham Reid
On My Way
by Ocean Beach
Big bristling powered-up pop-rock from a local band fronted by singer/writer Gary Dalhousie who takes Oasis and Pavement off the main highway and down some dirty backroads for exciting, rough riding rock’n’roll. The final single off the forthcoming album The Long Road Home (May 17) which sounds destined for pubs and the car stereo. Warn the neighbours. – Graham Reid
Gubaidulina, Piano Sonata, III. Allegretto
by Beatrice Rauchs piano.
We can name the great composers: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and all that. But who are the great composers of our time? Most would say John Adams. Thomas Adès has his champions, so too the late Kaija Saariaho. I and many others would add Sofia Gubaidulina. She died last week. She was 93, so it’s not a case of her being snatched from us too soon, but the musical world is emptier for Gubaidulina’s absence. She was Russian and deeply religious, and her music was radical, so of course she struggled under Soviet Communism. In the 1970s, she survived a murder attempt that people close to her were convinced was a failed KGB hit, but who knows? This piece, her Piano Sonata, was, like all her piano music, an early work, and by Gubaidulina’s standards it’s tuneful, too. As her career progressed, she went much further out, using abstruse mathematical patterns that perhaps only she truly understood. An original, following her own path, as the greats must. – Richard Betts
