Womb – Wine Cellar: November 25, 2022

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Womb is an ambient melodic dream pop sibling trio from Wellington, who make comfort music which often envelopes a fierce burning heart at the core.

They are on the final leg of their tour to promote sophomore album Dreaming of the Future Again. The Wellington band has Charlotte Forrester lead vocals, guitar and cello, Haz Forrester synths, and Georgette Brown drums.

It is a slow rise to commence, like daybreak on an east coast beach. The cello plays haunting tones. The drummer has a minimalist kit and uses tom toms. Hence, the inevitable reference to the Velvet Underground and the drone patterns of Heroin and All Tomorrow’s Parties.

The intro morphs into the album’s opening tune Sylvan’s Song. I dreamt I was awake/ I dreamt I was a shooting star/ I dreamt I was on fire. 

Unlike Nico, Charlotte has a more familiar feminine high tone, but she phrases in a similar manner. Until the afterburners of passion and heat kick in and voice can soar and unleash.

The cello is only played once. On the next, Like in a Dream, the electric guitar drops some nice twanging rhythm riffs which blend into a sustained tone combined with the synth.

Used To Be starts with the same simple intro as the Rolling Stones’ Honky Tonk Women. Different to their studio single version. What follows is simmering pop with the singer providing the passion.

Maybe this band has the Velvets buried deep in their soul. They have a song called Oceans. But it has a nice shimmering Smith’s groove which plays out like an endless riff. As if adrift on an ocean. How come I feel so far from you/ I just want to bring you/ Ocean.

Samara Alofa

Samara Alofa is a multi-disciplinary artist who combines music with dance and movement, and her support performance tonight is ultimately a soothing ambient flow, like floating in a warm river for forty minutes.

It was most welcome as deep relaxation for the conclusion of a working week. Once in that space, you are open to nuance and subtleties you may not appreciate in music that is based on tension and release.

Alofa resides in Auckland. She is of Māori, Samoan, Tongan, English and German heritage. Naturally there is a deep aspect of Polynesian and indigenous culture in the way she presents her art.

Three extended pieces make up her forty-five-minute set.

The first is pure environmental. Alofa has a huge sound desk which includes a synth of sorts, turntables and a computer. A second player is on percussion, saxophone and woodwind.

An immersive sound as if in a Kew Gardens gallery. In the damp woods under a moonlit night. Shells rattle and wind chimes float by in the air. The sound collage eventually metastasizes into a suburban soundscape.

The next piece introduces a little electric guitar. Framed by deep electronic bass notes. There is some soft jazz vocalising. The tone resembles Pere Ubu, with any unsettling notes being blanketed by a soft languid rhythm. The sound of a glass being broken and then swept up fits seamlessly into this, even though it’s not planned that way. Can’t be sure of that.

The last one is called How Are You, Friend? Alofa tells us this is based on a Samoan forest spirit legend. Her voice starts as a high spectral keening. Ominous, hypnotic music which expands out as the guitar notes sound liquid. Taped voices sound equally Polynesian and Eastern European.

The audience have been sitting on the floor for this, appropriately.

Womb

The band are Folkies at heart, in their intent. Then they add layers of melodic textures along with the spare use of squalling electric guitar. That would describe Some Setting Son. They would share that with their predecessors, the Velvets and the Smiths.

When I See You would be the closest to a familiar rock sound. A meshed sound from guitar and synth which sounds majestic.

Satellite. Demonstrates their versatility. It starts with relaxed lounge jazz, which leads the way to some stunning vocals as Charlotte lets it all go. Controls the light and the dark and brings some peace to it all, on the long vamp.

Dreaming of the Future Again closes the set. The guitar is bowed. Programmed beats kick things along. The synth sounds orchestral. All the elements are brought together in a great finale.

Womb delivers a compelling folkie pop sound which must reflect to some extent they come from the same womb.

Rev Orange Peel      

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