Ōtautahi Christchurch-based songwriter Mousey (Sarena Close) gets right into personal grief (a miscarriage) on this seductive, sinew-straining song which aches with hurt but pulls the listener in through unusual percussion, disconcerting lyrics, and her mesmerising, pain-soaked and yearning vocal. Not an easy ride, but as wesaid of her previous Dog Park single, she “looks to be setting up a fascinating album where pop meets art is a discomforting room”. Album The Dreams of Our Mothers’ Mothers! due October 18. – Graham Reid
Mango Tree
by Aaradhna
Edging toward her first new album in some years next month, Aaradhna’s latest shows she’s still having fun colouring outside her expected genre lines with a moody, humid slice of soul-jazz-plus driven by some particularly groovy bass and breathless flute. – Russell Baillie
Big Star
by Rita Mae
The up and coming Auckland alt-pop singer-songwriter’s gift for indelible tunes with a hint of deja vu about them continues with this bittersweet ballad which impressively escapes its slow bedroom-strum beginnings to go dramatically widescreen at the three-quarters mark. – Russell Baillie
Continuum 1
by Nala Sinephro
A taster from her upcoming album Endlessness, Nala Sinephro is a Caribbean-Belgian experimental jazz musician. She’s one of many on Warp Records’ roster that’s pushing sonic boundaries – such as Aphex Twin, Mount Kimbie, and Wu Lu. This track is a very tasty blend of freeform drums, saxophone, and analogue synthesisers – combining all the best parts of avant-garde jazz and modern electronica production. – Sam Clark
Dreamily atmospheric electronica from German DJ/producer Böhmer which skirts close to ambient house with piano and short gleaming guitar passages above the swathes of synths. The downbeat third single in advance of new album Bloom (featuring Lykke Li and JONAH) due September 27. – Graham Reid
Yo Me Estreso
by the Linda Lindas
Californian all-women alt-rock quartet get back to sway-along basics on a monochromatic slice of guitar rock under a title which means “I get stressed” in English. Point of interest: the accordion player is “Weird Al” Yankovic. – Graham Reid
Going to the River with Dad
by Paul Kelly
Australia’s songwriting laureate heads to the piano and once again pulls off the trick of fitting an entire life into a song with a story of a father and son fishing trip which magically shifts from childhood memory to eulogy in its closing overs. – Russell Baillie
So Lo (Andrew VanWyngarden Remix)
by Pond
Mostly known for being one half of MGMT, Andrew VanWyngarden is becoming a champion of Australasian music via his occasional off-kilter remixes, and ‘Gentle Dom’ house music moniker. In 2020, he released a mesmerising collab with Te Awanga’s Conan Mockasin’s named I Want Troll with You. His latest release So Lo is originally by Perth band Pond – close friends and collaborators of Tame Impala. In this funky rework, the strained rocker vocals sit at the very front of the mix – almost dissolving into its psychedelic keys, snare hits and harmonised backing vocals. – Sam Clark
Canadian Mendes has it all: looks, modelling gigs, awards, hit albums and all that goes with being good at what he does, which is write songs as catchy and radio-friendly as this concise piece of acoustic-driven pop with just the merest suggestion of country-rock about it and a big singalong section. Clever if a bit obvious. – Graham Reid
Shostakovich, Violin Concerto No.1, IV. Burlesque. Maxim Vengerov violin, London Symphony Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich conductor.
Maxim Vengerov’s Wellington concert is done and dusted. This Thursday’s Auckland show, meanwhile, sold out weeks ago. (That Auckland Philharmonia gig is, thankfully, being broadcast live on the 22nd by RNZ Concert.) If you missed those Sibelius concerto performances, Vengerov’s recording is freely available online and on disc. Lately, though, I’ve been listening to his most famous album, featuring the two Shostakovich violin concertos. Made with Mstislav Rostropovich when Vengerov was just 19, it was Gramophone magazine’s 1995 record of the year. You can hear why in the closing Burlesque section of the first concerto, a breathless head-over-heels tumble towards the finish line. Phew. – Richard Betts
