Uneven Ground
by Death and the Maiden
The phrase “death and the maiden” refers to the figures of death (in art, often a skeleton) with that of youth and life, a jarring juxtaposition reflecting memento mori (remember, you will die) and the age-old prayer “even in the midst of life, we are in death”.
It’s the title of a string-quartet piece by Franz Schubert, an 18th-century poem by Matthias Claudius, and paintings by Egon Schiele, Hans Baldung and Edvard Munch among many other European artists. It’s grim up north.
Down here, it immediately brings to mind Graeme Downes’ 1983 signature song for the Verlaines.
Naming your band Death and the Maiden – as Dunedin’s Lucinda King, Hope Robinson and Danny Brady have done – conjures up bleak imagery.
Their self-titled 2015 debut album’s cover was a stark black and white Esta de Jong photo of a hand holding a stem of orchids from her All That Lives Must Die series.
It’s grim down south?
Although the trio – named for the Munch, incidentally – explore the porous, emotional boundary between life and death/light and darkness, their gloom-pop often radiates a beguiling discomfort.
Obvious touchstones are early Cure and Joy Division/New Order – washes of guitars, synth drums, bass to the fore, repeated and minimalist trance-like melodies – but King’s ethereal vocals and lyrics elevate the often-mesmerising, if familiar, atmospheres of Uneven Ground.
There’s an increasingly oppressive, relentlessness to Waratah and Nola – the latter settling on the repeated “now it’s gone” and “you’re not around” – that overwhelm King’s voice; Not Like comes with disturbing turntable scratching by Alphabethead and an intricate weave of vocals; the menacing Ceramic is discordant and disruptive in this context.
The title Uneven Ground suggests wary walking and there’s certainly unease here. But Death and the Maiden have assured footing and – although broadcasting on a readily identifiable emotional bandwidth – offer engrossing, gloomadelic penumbra-pop.
Blue Dreams
by Holly Arrowsmith
Born in Santa Fe and raised in the South Island, Holly Arrowsmith made her 2015 debut with For the Weary Traveller, which picked up folk album of the year. In May, the folk-rock Desert Dove on this third album won Apra’s best country song award (her second win), and the title track and Neon Bright (the latter ironically like an old campfire song, with Delaney Davidson and others in the video) were among Rolling Stone’s best new songs of the week.
Acknowledgment as a country and folk artist indicates her stylistic breadth, and with references to Catalina (Desert Dove) and the prairie (the haunting Something Small) and the observed detail on Night Flight, she also has geographical reach in her imagery.
As with Mel Parsons, Arrowsmith has an understated, sometimes world-weary delivery in mid-tempo material, but also brings a compelling presence like the young Joni Mitchell in the weaving melody and arresting intimacy of Mountain Lion.
Produced by band member Tom Healy (Bic Runga, Marlon Williams), cleverly arranged (Could’ve Been a River) and with serious lyrics tapping resonant observations in life, Blue Dreams is a slow grower collection of crafted, poetic songs. l
These albums are available digitally, on CD and vinyl.
