While I’m Distracted
By Arjuna Oakes
Britain-based expat singer-songwriter and producer Arjuna Oakes brings considerable experience to this 14-song double-vinyl debut.
Recently, he’s collaborated with his mentor, the classical composer John Psathas, played and sung on albums with Serebii, Nathan Haines and others, was composer-in-residence for Orchestra Wellington and has released seven EPs under his own name since 2019.
As expected from that diversity, this expansive collection roams confidently across electronica, folk, jazz and neo-soul with a string section, horns, and assistance from Haines, Serebii (who also co-produced) and engineer Lee Prebble (of Wellington’s famous Surgery Studio).
There’s an ease in how Oakes’ compositions shift direction: No Joke moves from pastel shades of soulful folk through woozy then sweeping atmospheric ambience, before cutting to a funky percussion and bass break. All seem natural transitions.
His sometimes romantic string arrangements are a binding feature, wrapping further warmth around his gentle, expressive vocals on the cinematic Catch Me (with Haines on flute) and the jazz ballad Lay Low. The album also astutely shuffles styles to bring in soft scratching (the airy and looped Before It’s All Over), quirky synth-pop (Motel), soul-folk (the acoustic miniature Get Me Some Grief), a jazz-coloured Beatlesque ballad (I Am Alive) and more, including the jerky anxieties of Pocketful of Paranoia.
While I’m Distracted – at times like a midpoint between 1970s soul and the jazz experimentalism of David Bowie’s Blackstar – might have benefited from some editing, but it plays out as a diverting, sophisticated and integrated hour or so of music with an enjoyable disregard for genre constraints.
Can’t Even
By Bub
In a brief note, Bub singer-songwriter and guitarist Priya Sami says Can’t Even is the record “I wish I had the confidence to do at 17. But I wasn’t a skinny white man. Well, I’m over that now!”
Sami made a brief appearance over a decade ago with siblings Madeline and Anji as The Sami Sisters and their Happy Heartbreak! album.
Her self-assurance now is evident when, with The Beths’ Liz Stokes on trumpet, Bub revisit her 2005 song from the Play It Strange high school songwriting competition.
It’s Mrs Julian Casablancas and is about her teenage crush on the Strokes’ singer-songwriter, which, in a spoken word coda, now adds an open letter to Casablancas saying she’s “older now and wiser”. Then, without regret, closes with something unexpected.
Bub have considerable road miles and experience. With Sami (more recently in Trip Pony and Dateline) are drummer/synth player Alex Freer (Artisan Guns, Tiny Ruins, various jazz and rock sessions) and bassist Daniel Barrett (Sherpa, Racing).
Bub’s forte isn’t their self-described “doo-wop punk” but economic, melodic songs (The Cars an acknowledged reference) which reach into New Wave (New Amsterdam, the chunky Jeez Louise), scuffed-up pop (the bristling King of Wands, compelling Girl, and droning shoegaze Dreams) and Sami’s ambitious songwriting.
Rain On My Parade and especially the minimal Bored confirm her command of soulful R’n’B.
The Sami Sisters were, at best, a footnote and Bub might be just passing through. But Sami is in for the long haul and, with the lyrically astute Can’t Even, has reasons for belated self-confidence.
These albums are available digitally and on vinyl.
