Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate / Lifestyle

Music Review: SJD, St John Divine (+video)

By Craig Cooper
NZME. regionals·
11 Jun, 2015 05:00 PMQuick Read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Sean James Donnelly aka SJD

Sean James Donnelly aka SJD

Sean James Donnelly (SJD) lets space invade his seventh album, and the effect is very pleasant indeed. There are parallels with Beck's 2014 Morning Phase. Both artists inhabit a similar vocal space and have a pastoral warmth to their work.

But SJD paints from a slightly more eclectic palette. Album closer Was I Always Here is a gorgeous wedding song spiked with a fuzzed-up guitar solo, and the single, I Wanna Be Foolish borrows the riff from Pavement's Summer Babe (via the Fall) for a stroll down to the tavern in SJD's dressing gown. On Change The Channel SJD channels Martin Phillips, and the falsetto on Unplugged leaves everyone happy. This is quality stuff from one of our country's most consistent songwriters.

Listen to Was I Always Here below.

Discover more

Music Review: Mumford & Sons, Wilder Mind

14 May 05:00 PM

Music Review: Bombino, Nomad

21 May 05:00 PM

Music Review: Twenty One Pilots, Blurryface

28 May 05:00 PM

Music Review: Alabama Shakes, Sound & Colour

04 Jun 05:00 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save
    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Northern Advocate

I’m a teacher with incurable cancer – I can show students there’s more to life than trauma

Northern Advocate

'Got everything that I treasure': Couple’s floating house turns heads

Northern Advocate

'Absolute piece of brilliance': Celebrity chef Al Brown raves about Whangārei bakery


Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

I’m a teacher with incurable cancer – I can show students there’s more to life than trauma
Northern Advocate

I’m a teacher with incurable cancer – I can show students there’s more to life than trauma

Stacey Schultz says she is teaching them life lessons they wouldn't otherwise experience.

02 Sep 10:59 PM
'Got everything that I treasure': Couple’s floating house turns heads
Northern Advocate

'Got everything that I treasure': Couple’s floating house turns heads

29 Aug 11:00 PM
'Absolute piece of brilliance': Celebrity chef Al Brown raves about Whangārei bakery
Northern Advocate

'Absolute piece of brilliance': Celebrity chef Al Brown raves about Whangārei bakery

17 Aug 04:50 PM


Kiwi campaign keeps on giving
Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP