December 20, 2020

Concert Review: Grounded Sounds – Tuning Fork December 18, 2020

A special show tonight. Six acts. Daffodils, LA Women, Rei, LAIIKA, Spaces and Sophie & Sam. From the freshly minted to the already-seasoned. Brought together courtesy of Music Helps. A charitable organisation formed in 2012 to assist musicians, and to help in times of distress.

Seismic shock waves off the scale. Music still buried overseas. The Old World is rapidly changing. We may be about to experience another explosion in music, and a moment in Art. New Zealand may just be the epicenter. Ground Zero.

Sam and Sophie

We start with Sam and Sophie. Five-man band on stage and the first thing to mention is that Sophie Brown is a girl. Sam Charlesworth has written that down next to her name, as he lists the members. Nathan Murray plays lead guitar and together they have a triple guitar attack. Para Balaraman electric bass and Josh Chong drums.

Sophie and Sam have only been together as musicians for two months but they have written three songs. All are impressive. If they can bang them out like that, they are moving faster than the speed of sound. Boom.

Wasted starts slow and dreamy Pop. Then they intensify and brighten. Finish with jangling guitars.

Leaf Blade is Power Pop and they have been immersed in the Beth’s current album. Surprisingly well-accomplished and crafted.

Look Mama On TV. A bright Pop tune with a nice rhythmic drive from the bass. Has an older Two-Tone feel to it with the off-beat accented towards ska. When Mama does watch TV, she sees a bank robbery captured live. Things I do are all for you/ Tell me you’re proud of me.

Great debut.

Spaces

Spaces are a trio. Just out of High School. Spencer Coyle vocals and guitar, Holly Webster electric bass and Harry Inghan drums and guitar.

Spencer has an impressive English White Soul voice.

First is Tokyo. A cover. The sound of UK in the Eighties. Pop with a soft Disco swing.

They do cover/original for their four-song set. Stay With Me and the singer grabs this one and wrings the emotion out of it as Blue-eyed Soul dials up a level.

Sweater Weather is a cover of The Neighbourhood’s song. Generally, a Power Pop song with the emphasis on melody and dreamy singing with some soft Rap.

They take this same style to their own song which could be called Last Night.

This trio has not been long together either. Already the singer can make himself noticed.

Daffodils

Daffodils have stripped the band back to a duo. It’s Theo Salmon acoustic guitar and Jade Bryham on keyboards. They played an impressive set at the recent Elemental concert series in Auckland a few months back.

Tonight brings to the fore Theo’s soulful singing. Pitched between Morrissey and Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen. An anglophile and full of angst and melancholy tonight. But with the bright tones of Indie Pop to lift the spirits.

Why is just that. Dark becomes sombre but still with the blue-eyed Soul tone.

John Prine is a current favourite of his and tonight they lay out an impressive That’s the Way the World Goes Around. Country Folk or Americana, take your pick. Theo tells me he has spent a lot of time around the Folkies. Attended every Kumeu Folk-a-Rama festival since age 12. So, he is quite comfortable in this genre. Prine did an outstanding show in Auckland early 2019. He died in the middle of this Covid year.

Two songs are solo as Jade leaves the stage. A brand new one is not titled but I can call it Maybe I’m Empty. This is a year of deep reflection for many, and at least musicians can express it in Art. This is melancholy and down and does sound like a signature Springsteen in style. In the way the Boss echoes resignation and dignity. Theo talks a bit about his own emotional and mental health challenges.

Able to hold the audience, who are predominantly young and full of Just-Finished–School exuberance.

LAIIKA

LAIIKA are a brand-new band who seem to have resurrected the Golden Age of the Girl Group Sound. They are a stunning female duo surrounded by a backroom of three guys.

Heidi Simpson and Grace Moller. They could be the grand-daughters of ABBA. A blonde and a ginger hair. Already have a captivating presence. They have very good voices both, without being stand-outs. But combined in unison singing they can elevate.

The debut single Crush is presented on stage very much like the studio version but is a killer live. The bass and drums elevate the power. The girls soar. The keyboards provide the sparkle and shine and there is plenty of space around the music. It is not cluttered.

Girl Group power was what the Beatles tapped on their debut, when they exploded in the Big Bang of Beatlemania. Springsteen aches and longs to recreate the sound and the power. She’s the One and Born to Run.

A Boomer like me starts to get palpitations. There is the sound of Goldstar Studios and the Shangri-Las. But try something closer for sheer sonic power. Reparata and The Delrons. There is some to be found on Spotify.

Follow My Lead starts their set. Indie Pop and set apart by a good rhythmic backing and bass playing. Bounces around like the B52’s or the Go-Go’s.

Power. Unison singing and free of affect. Clean and straight.

You’re Such A Loser. Starts slow, speeds up with some guitar riffs. Good sense of humour. I don’t know why you insist on looking like that.

They say Sombre is new, but they all are save the single. Quirky and more complex in construction. A bit of Kate Bush oddness in the vocals which they swap for Girl Group harmony in the latter half of the song.

Breaking Hearts and the guitars ring and jangle. A classic young lady’s scathing put-down.

Will be big if they continue as they have started.

LA Women

LA Women are Aucklanders Jake Schdroski lead singer and guitar, Zac Emerson drums and Jesse Brown bass. Actually, their origins are rural heartland New Zealand. Their music is a blend of many genres linked by what would sound like classic Rock’n’Roll. They appear to be cultivating an under-the-radar approach to their original songs. Releasing independently-made singles in secret gigs or locations and building a following that way. Good luck to them. They certainly have the songwriting and performing chops and could easily plant themselves in small venues and fringe festivals.

The opening track may be called Hello Depression. Begins with some Rock riffs and power chords but soon moves into Indie-Pop. I can feel depression pushing down on me.

Count It Up is a highlight for me. Modern R’n’B but sung slow and soulful. The Chic style bass lead is up front. They extend the groove and stretch out and it sounds like summer around Takapuna boulevard with the America’s Cup in the distance. One way ticket to my heart/ Watch your money go down.

A number of songs then have this loose groove. A signature New Zealand sound which has the relaxing whiff of an herbal high.

Hurricane Love captures this ability to move fluidly through different styles. A nice smooth Pop sound which moves through to R’n’B as the bass lays out a seductive groove.

The following song opens with some Space Funkadelic guitar sounds before rocking out with Reggae rhythm riffs. Changes of pace and tempo. A bit of Jazz in the mix.

Eventually as they gather pace and bravado in their set, they can start to generate the loose-but tight feel of the Rolling Stones in the Seventies when they also were mixing Reggae. The closing song which has Girlfriend in the title is all sprung Reggae rhythm with the singer giving it some Joe Strummer phrasing.

Mister Mojo risin’/ Gotta keep on risin’.

Rei

It is a long night for Friday and energy might be flagging but Rei is able to crank everyone back up with the closing set. Callum McDougall is a Rap and Beats artist from Auckland. He has been making music for at least six years and has a pile of singles and albums out on streaming platforms. C.H.I.E.F. gained an award for Best Urban Album at the Waiata Maori Music Awards in 2016. As he says on his Spotify bio, he has millions of streams, has toured up and down the country.

He starts with Rap mixed with Seventies Soul. A summery feel typical of New Zealand and the South Pacific. Syn drums are added to the recorded beats.

I gotta lot of faith in you starts the second song. Dave Dobbyn’s Slice of Heaven is wound through this. Melodic sunny Rap.

With Rapeti though, he really impresses. Sung in te reo Maori. Vocals become chants and incantations. Fast and polyrhythmic. Rap is essentially street poetry and was derived from the art of insulting adversaries in rhyme. Funny and obscene. The manner the words are spoken are just as crucial in conveying the music as any instruments. It is impressive to hear Maori presented in this way. It seems to come alive.

Maori language is still struggling to be preserved. It is hard to keep any culture alive if it is not dynamic and progressing. Music seems to be an ideal way to give it proper life. And you can dance to it as Rei does.

He gets more and more animated throughout the set. Locking and popping easily and freely. Working up a sweat.

Tane

Tane is brought up on stage as a guest Rapper. Of African and Kiwi parentage. Also, Julia, an African American professional dancer who takes the movements to another level. Looking wild and stunning.

Rei closes the show tonight on a physical high. It has been a night of inspired performing.

There certainly is darkness and despair hanging over live music for much of the planet. But there might also be the seeds of a fightback and revolution forming in this small country.