April 24, 2021

Concert Review: Arjuna Oakes – Neck of the Woods April 23, 2021

There were plenty of tasty choices on the Auckland live music scene this Friday night. My choice was Neck Of The Woods on K Rd, where Arjuna Oakes was up from Wellington to lay down a funky groove.

Along with Arjuna Oakes was fellow Wellingtonian and collaborator Serebii. In fact this 4-date mini tour is named after their upcoming EP, Reset.

But before we get down to the “dream soul”, the evening begins with the dream pop of Marianne Wren. While she often performs with her band, Marianne was on her own this evening attempting to be heard over the crowd who was assembling to catch the headlining bands.

Switching between electric and acoustic guitar, Wren performed seven songs in her allotted 30 minutes including current single Mars.

With a strong voice and poetic songs, Marianne deserves to be heard in front of her own crowd, but she did well here.

Up next was Serebii (aka Callum Mower), and he took no time in raising the musical temperature, thanks in no part to sax man Loxmyn (or Lox).

The four-piece band laid down a solid, jazzy groove with Lox’s sax honking over the sultry beats. The crowd responded with swaying hips and smiling faces…it was Friday night; a long weekend and they were ready to groove.

By the time the five musicians that currently make up Arjuna Oakes took the stage it was closing in on 11pm, but no one seemed the least bit tired and dancing was the order of the day as Arjuna’s sweet, soulful vocals floated over the music.

Bandmembers include trumpeter James MacEwan, guitarist jo Jenkins, Harrison Scholes on bass and drummer Sam Notman. Each musician was given his chance to solo and to shine with a parade of guests on hand to take us higher.

First up saw the return of Lox on sax to reprise his role on the recorded version of Deep End. Arjuna’s smooth falsetto blended beautifully with Lox’s sax.

Then can a vocalist named Zoe (I missed her last name) but otherwise she was impossible to miss as she brought the house down with a very, very impressive gospel-infused performance of How Does It Feel. This young lady is one to watch.

Finally our friend Nathan Haines joined the party to sit in on set closer Reset. By then the band was cooking and the crowd was rocking.

There was no question, as the audience shouted repeatedly, “Encore, encore” we would hear one more tune.

Arjunia took it down a notch with a soulful ballad, Am I The Only One Who’s Walking, featuring the mournful trumpet of James MacEwan.

It was a beautiful way to send us all off on this long, languid weekend.

Marty Duda

Arjuna Oaks