23/05/2025

Calla Of Ursa – Neck Of The Woods: May 22, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)

This is what New Zealand Music Month is all about…catching an adventurous new artist with music music about to be released and a sound all their own. Calla Of Ursa fits the bill to a tee.

Calla is Calla Knudson, an operatically trained soprano, violinist and producer who has released two album as Calla Of Ursa, and has another ready to go, Animal Reaction, May 30^th.

Tonight is the live premiere of the 7 songs that make up Animal Reaction and those in the know are already pinging with anticipation when I arrive to the venue.

Music is in the air…opening act Ersha Island is just finishing their set…the two Chinese-Kiwi sisters sounding positively angelic. I’m bummed I missed most of the set, but there’s a lot going on, and I’m trying to be everywhere at once.

Fortunately I am at Neck Of The Woods now and Calla starts her set just minutes or so after Ersha Island finishes.

Calla’s operatic voice rings out from the darkened stage calling everyone to attention as she gets things underway with a cover of Savage Daughter, making the Karen Kahan (aka Wyndreth) original, her own.

Cello player Olivia Wilding takes a seat, stage left, and the two perform Patterns Of Remedy, the title track from Calla’s 2023 album, with Olivia’s cello proving the perfect foil for Calla’s voice. Olivia did indeed contribute to the new album. And we are about to hear the new record from beginning to end just after a Swedish Folk Song featuring cello, violin, voice and electronica that all builds to a droning chant.

Calla takes a moment to introduce the title track to the new album. Animal Reaction, she tells us, is about “reclaiming an expression of repressed female rage and particularly in relation to menstruation”. Ok, so I’m not the target demographic, but I like what I’m hearing.

Olivia chime in on backing vocals during new single, Weather The Storm, while Settle The Score is all about Mother Earth fighting back.

The evening ends with a singalong…everyone joins in for My Body Of Water, the title track to Calla’s 2021 debut album.

We’re lucky to have artists as original and bold as Calla Of Ursa among us. Undfortunately, after 4 four shows, Calla is packing up and moving overseas. It’s a sad commentary on the state of New Zealand’s music industry when artists like this don’t feel they can thrive here. Hopefully things will change and Calla will be back among us when album number 4 is ready.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Silke Hartung: