Record reviewer Peter Baker brings you the releases you need to know about. Explore an ambient affair of Twin Peaks-esque cinematic soundscapes, an entry point to Nina Simone’s sprawling career, and an essential anthology from a reggae heavyweight.
Gia Margaret — Romantic Piano
Gia Margaret is an American singer-songwriter and
After various dead-end jobs, she returned to music in 2017. Her debut album There’s Always Glimmer was a moody outing, boosting whimsical composition and lyrical wisdom.
After suffering a severe illness on tour, Margaret lost her voice and was unable to sing for a period. The result is her third album Romantic Piano, a mostly ambient affair (only three tracks feature vocals). Margaret marries loops, field recordings and vocal samples with her love of the piano, creating touching Twin Peaks-esque cinematic soundscapes.
The album is an enduring education in the wonders of space, offering the listener intimate access to an artist who lost her voice but learned to communicate via her elegant compositions.
Record label: Jagjaguwar
Release date: Out now
Listen to: ‘City Song’
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Eilen Jewell — Get Behind the Wheel
A frequent visitor to Aotearoa, Americana roots and country singer Eilen Jewell is no stranger to doing it tough, but nothing prepared her for the total upheaval of post-Covid life. In the span of just a few months, Jewell watched as her marriage, her band (which included her husband), and her entire career (her husband was also her manager) fell apart in a series of heart-breaking implosions.
Thankfully, she found sanctuary in a small cabin nestled in the Idaho mountains. There she dove into meditation, took long walks and began experimenting with psychedelics, continually writing songs as a form of Catharticism for an album she thought would never see the light of day.
The resulting album, Get Behind the Wheel, is Jewell’s ninth, a raw and passionate detail of her heartache and sorrow, while she harnesses her newfound creative spirit. It’s co-produced by multi-instrumental Will Kimbrough, who enhances Jewell’s trademark vintage folk/roots, adding a dash of psychedelia — proof that, from rock bottom, things can only get better.
Record label: Signature Sounds
Release date: Out now
Listen to: ‘Lethal Love’
For fans of: Buddy and Julie Miller, Rodney Crowell, and Neko Case.
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Marcia Griffiths — Essential Artist Collection
Born in Kingston, Jamacia, in 1949, Marcia Griffiths is a true pioneer, a solidarity female figure in the then fully male-controlled reggae genre and industry. From cutting her teeth on early ska and rocksteady tunes at the infamous Studio One, to travelling the world with Bob Marley and the Wailers, Griffiths is now regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of Jamaican music.
This Essential Artist Collection, compiled by the mighty Trojan Records, tracks her outstanding career. From Jamaican chart hits ‘Fell Like Jumping’ and ‘Melody Life’, to the international hits with Bob Andy, like ‘To Be Young Gifted and Black’ and the upbeat funky hit ‘Electric Boogie,’ which went on to inspire then-popular dance move the Electric Slide. An excellent career-spanning anthology from one of the most important voices in reggae.
Record label: Trojan Records
Release date: Out now
Listen to: ‘Electric Boogie (The Electric Slide)’
For fans of: Bob Marley, Judy Mowatt, and Ken Boothe.
Nina Simone — Great Women of Song
Nina Simone needs no introduction, simply one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. A gifted vocalist, pianist and songwriter, throughout her career she has effortlessly weaved between genres, blending jazz, blues, soul, gospel, classical, world, R ‘n’ B and pop, with a passion and style that is truly her own.
Simone was one of the most outspoken and influential musicians throughout the civil rights movement releasing self-penned anthems of ‘Mississippi Goddamn’ and ‘Four Women’, addressing racism and other injustices.
As musicians like Erykah Badu, Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Lauryn Hill and John Legend cite her influence on their own careers, a whole new younger audience is discovering the wonders of Simone via social media. This Verve compiled collection, Great Women of Song, is released as an entry point to Simone’s vast and incredible career. It’s hard not to listen to this album and not be moved, such is the depth of Simone’s raw and emotional delivery. A great compilation, recommended to young and old.
Record label: Verve and Universal
Release date: Out now
Listen to: ‘I Put a Spell on You’
For fans of: Billie Holiday, Etta James, and Sarah Vaughan.
The Smiths — The Smiths
Over their short but prolific career, The Smiths cemented themselves as one of the most significant indie groups of the 80s. Fronted by the enigmatic Morrissey, The Smiths charmed the world with four fantastic studio albums, one live album and three compilations in the very short space of five years.
Their self-titled debut album The Smiths is arguably one of the best debut albums released in the 80s, from the harmonica-driven ‘Hand in Glove’, to the ridiculously catchy ‘This Charming Man’ and the 60s swing of ‘The Hand that Rocks the Cradle’. Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke (who passed away on May 19, 2023) created passionate alternative music that captured the hearts of a nation and the world. “Oh Manchester, so much to answer for.”
Record label: Warner
Release date: Out now
Listen to: ‘This Charming Man’
For fans of: Echo and the Bunnymen, Pulp, and The Housemartins.
Peter Baker is a local industry stalwart with 30 years of experience and musical tastes from 80s electronic through to reggae, soul, jazz and country. If you’re lucky, you’ll find him in Tāmaki Makaurau behind the counter at Marbecks.co.nz, sharing his love of music. Read his album recommendations on Viva every Saturday.
