Gisborne musician Martha Kelly launches her new album Hedony Undone at Smash Palace Bar on Friday. Photo / Michelle Fraser
Gisborne musician Martha Kelly launches her new album Hedony Undone at Smash Palace Bar on Friday. Photo / Michelle Fraser
Lifelong musician Martha Kelly doesn’t write many songs about herself, but the title track of her new album is a rare exception.
The Gisborne-based singer-songwriter launches her first album, Hedony Undone, with a live performance at Smash Palace Bar on Friday.
She will be accompanied by the band Monterey (DavidMcCall, Marty Bakker and Mikey Jones), along with Keren Rickard, Sarah Grant, Sean Scanlan, Waiora Paul-Utiera and Graeme Dearness.
The opportunity to create a studio-produced album arose when she collaborated musically with Monterey.
Monterey member McCall, a producer who has previously worked with other New Zealand and British artists, offered to produce Kelly’s songs.
“The opportunity to do this came to me and I thought, ‘Oh well, grab it,’ you know? I think David McCall has done a wonderful job,” Kelly said.
The guitarist and composer said she had been a musician “my whole life“.
“It is what I do. It is what I have done all my life since I was the smallest child – written songs since I was a small child. Everyone has got their thing. That one is mine.
Her work spans genres, and most songs on the album were written at different times, not specifically for an album.
“The genres on the album go from some of me, just singer-songwriter stuff, through to I guess bordering on soft jazz to blues to some indie. A bit of something for everyone, so to speak.
“The song Hedony Undone, the title song, was a song I was always going to write. I was always going to have an album called Hedony Undone if I ever did an album, so here it is.”
Martha Kelly describes herself as a lifelong musician. Her work is not confined to one genre, crossing jazz, blues and indie. Photo / Michelle Fraser
Kelly said “one big thing” was that she did not write about herself.
“In my day job, I am a communications coach and a family mediator, so I get lots of insights into humanity.
“I suppose that is a lot of the inspiration in my work; none of it is about anyone in particular. It is about themes of relationships and sorting your stuff out.”
The title track was an exception to this, Kelly describing it as a bit more personal.
“That is probably the one song that is about me. Well, there is one other one. There is a lot of talk about the universal harmony in that song, which is fundamentally what it is all about.”
The album art comes from a large Mark Dimock artwork that hangs in Kelly’s dining room.
Kelly left the door open when asked about future albums.
