July 16, 2021

Pickle Darling with Tree Nurse at the Wine Cellar, 16 July 2021

It was a Thursday evening of superb songwriting at the Wine Cellar with Pickle Darling and Treenurse delivering brilliant sets to a packed house.

Treenurse

First up was Treenurse (Lucy Campbell). Introducing herself as her ‘solo version’, Lucy’s sample of seven songs offered a window into a wry world of wondering about possibilities.

With her occasionally bluesy strumming on electric guitar, she opened with Burden (“I don’t want to be a burden/ I’d rather be a tree hugger” ). Other songs followed in this vein of bare honesty and empathy. Memorable refrains included “I love you so much want to hide in the dark” and, in reference to elephants at the zoo, “we sing ouch, ouch, sometime we hurt”.

The standout offering was surely the newly released Pyjamas (“Life doesn’t happen in pyjamas/ So, you get a job/And you get a flat…/no, you can’t have this I was kidding”). The thud of reality lurks within Treenurse songs. If the genre of ‘bedroom pop’ is a thing then Pyjamas is surely a fine expression of it; a looking out on the world in bewilderment that things have to be as tough as they are.

Perhaps comparisons can be a burden to newer songwriters, but I found her near-spoken narrative style reminiscent of Courtney Barnett at times. As is invariably the case, Treenurse was an opening act worth catching, remembering and playing.

Between acts I pondered Lucy Campbell’s stage name. I first encountered the term ‘tree nurse’ in reference to logs in the forest that provide “ecological facilitation”. They decay, providing shade, nutrients, and water. So often a performance is only as memorable as the venue. In this case Rohan Evans once again acted as tree nurse within the wider ecology of NZ song writing, hosting performances perfectly suited to the homely setting of the Wine Cellar.

Pickle Darling

By the time Pickle Darling (Lukas Mayo) occupied the stage, the Cellar was a full as I’ve seen it in a while. Expectation was understandably strong. As they mentioned early on, this was their first North Island show. Ever. Lukas’ expressed fear no one would show up was laid to rest.

Accompanied by a band of two (Sarena Close, keys and xylophone and Cameron Finlay , guitar and keys), Lukas offered their wry narrative-based songs drawing heavily on the new Cosmonaut album.

Pickle Darling’s songs are memorable for their brevity (Rosary clocked in at under a minute) and the suddenness of their endings. No indulgent instrumental solos here; simply the lyrics and a precise and lively band delivery. Achieve Lift was a highlight for the synergy between lyrics and musicality of the band. Almost a hint of Sufjan Stevens.

While all the lyrics weren’t always as discernible as I’d prefer, the resonance of imagery was powerful. Who could not walk away not pondering a line like “I am nothing but commas hanging off your words”?

During their set Lukas called out admiration to Merk in the audience, a recent Silver Scroll nominee. On the basis of his latest suite of songs, Pickle Darling will surely feature on such a list in the near future.

As I walked down Queen Street after the show, their penultimate song Bicycle Weather followed me to the ferry: its deeply engaging melody, delicate sounds of guitar and keys, and lyrical narrative delivered in a lo-fi style. The line ‘When I brush my finder tips on your arm’ perhaps sums up the gentle beauty that is a Pickle Darling performance.

Robin Kearns

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