The strange days are over. Thea Gilmore survived a rancorous divorce with an album documenting that toxic relationship, Afterlife released under the name Afterlight. But now she returns with an album 25 years in the making, and one markedly self-titled,…
Sam Beam has been recording as Iron and Wine for over 20 years, so the thought of looking back at his career with a live concert film, Who Can See Forever makes sense. Evolving in much the same way his…
In a world that demands the ability to pigeonhole bands, Kristen Grainger & True North make life difficult. Their album, Fear of Falling Stars doesn’t fit easily into a particular box. Especially since a couple of the songs are sung…
Amy Hollinrake has her feet planted in two worlds. She is an English feminist singer-songwriter combining folklore and mythology with contemporary sounds and instruments that are both contemporary and traditional. Creating a head spinning mix of yesterday and today, Sad…
How do you define who you are? To say Ebony Lamb is a recording artist simply doesn’t do her justice. She’s also a preeminent photographer, whose images of New Zealand’s literary figures and independent music scene gave her a certain…
The music of Jack Cooper’s current band Modern Nature bears little resemblance to the music he made as half of Ultimate Painting. There really is no standard path that leads from there to No Fixed Point In Space. The shift…
Having a sense of humour in the music business helps, and Kenny Bates, who trades as Quitter, definitely has one. Which is why his album Monument Road has been credited with being recorded in, “flats, homes, cupboards, bedrooms and burnt…
Worlds collide on Clementine Valentine’s new album The Coin that Broke the Fountain Floor. Creating a sound that combines synths with guitars and layers of vocals, Clementine and Valentine Nixon construct a hybrid based on song stylings that go back…
Will Oldham seems to have a million personas, with Bonnie “Prince” Billy being the one he returns to most often. More than that, he records in so many styles, with so many people, it’s sometimes hard to know what to…
Memories are funny things, and while Snows of Yesteryear clearly understand the past, they also have a grasp on the present, creating an album that blends decades, dancing on and finding drama in surprising places. This is a most audacious…