Bic Runga – Red Sunset (Self) (13th Floor Album Review)
As the old saying goes, “red sky at night, shepherd’s delight”. Sunset, that image of imminent darkness which, when clouds turn red, becomes a portent of good things to come. Hope and light. Themes at the heart of this new Bic Runga (Ngāti Kahungunu) album, her first full original collection in fifteen years (since Belle, 2011).
For some, a release after that sort of gap might be pitched as a come-back album. But Bic’s never been away. Occasionally popping up (a livestream from Neil Finn’s studio; a show with the Philharmonia). Ever since, 31years ago, Sony signed Bic and Drive entered the charts, a seeming constant in our sonic landscape. A presence with what has been described as a crystalline voice: delicate, yet strong; clear and refracting light.
Those qualities shine on in Red Sunset, Bic’s sixth studio album. It has an intimacy of delivery and close-to-home feel that’s perhaps paradoxical: it was Recorded in Paris. Kody Nielson (Mint Chicks, Unknown Mortal Orchestra) is co-producer who also plays bass – wonderful bass – drums and synthesisers to complement partner Bic’s vocals and keyboards.
Expectations are understandably high when the artist is a multi-Tūī and Silver Scroll award winner and the youngest inductee into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame. Also a recipient of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Perhaps with so many accolades, it becomes harder to put new music out into the world?
First track Glass Atrium is an instrumental, almost Philip Glass-like for its spareness and deliberate yet melodic tracing of scales with hints of background vocals.
Segue into the danceable title track Red Sunset Shimmering synth. Insistent bass. Don’t you know/ Non one wants to be the lonely one.. A sound that seems both familiar and new.
Ghost In Your Bed romps along, Bic’s voice layered into a chorus and an endearingly fuzzed delivery.
Paris in the Rain tales us to the city that birthed the record. The vocal effects angelic and the rain drops falling in struck keys. Gorgeous.
First single It’s Like Summertime has a yearning, languid feel that speaks to nostalgia and the comfort of times past while also feeling the warmth of a kinder future. An instant classic that, I reckon, will go straight into the list of Bic’s most requested songs.
Escape from Planet Earth speaks, perhaps, to the madness of those who seek to colonise places beyond our planet, instead of appreciating what we have. It offers the exhortation Focus on the object at hand /It existed forever and ever. If the title line feels a tad repetitious then maybe that’s the point: don’t be seduced by that beyond our reach.
You’re Never Really Here (Are You Baby) is sung like one-sided conversation, delivered as if Bic is right here beside the listener: just voice and light-touch percussion and synth. Bedroom pop style and a lyric that could be as domestic, almost, as Pickle Darling in style.
The lively and persuasive Wont You Come Home is, perhaps the most reminiscent of earlier Bic, a spare, stripped back hint of her classic Get Some Sleep,
Hey Little One has her singing tie ribbons to your shiny dark hair the sky’s the limit to the dreams in your head. A song addressed with wistfulness to – presumably – a child. That sense of kids growing faster than the changes we can see and appreciate.
The collection ends with Home Run. If I could win your love/ Stay by my side/ If I could hit a home run…Bic’s voice ending the album with clarity riding over the undercurrent of accompaniment. Perfect.
No doubt we all have Bic memories from the past. For me, three are: Performing with Dave Dobbyn and Tim Finn at the Civic in 2000; second, having the great Paul Kelly open for her first headline Civic show in 2002; then the premier of her Birds album at the Herald Theatre with Neil Finn, Shayne Carter and Anika Moa in 2017. This album creates a hunger for a fourth: seeing these songs performed live.
Each of those memories a reminder of her panache for words and melody conveyed with a voice that seems to never age. And now Red Sunset: again an ageless feeling, a clarity of delivery and songs to delight us and remind us of brighter days.
Robin Kearns
Red Sunset will be released on Friday, February 13. PRE-ORDER THE NEW ALBUM HERE
