Tūmau Pea
by Olivia Foa’i
Australia-based Foa’i of the Te Vaka family won Best Pacific Artist in 2019 for her debut album Candid. She also picked up Pacific Music awards for her 2020 Sunlight single and the Tokelau-language Mai Anamua (the theme to the award-winning documentary Pacific Mother), both included on this second album.
Tūmau Pea/Everlasting bridges thoughtful slo-mo soul and trip-hop, aiming for a mainstream, contemporary R’n’B audience with slippery songs (the understated Party For 1) and the immediately grabbing Sunlight. Nada is a slow-jam steamer, there’s subtle Pasifika throughout (Tomorrow Can Wait) and a conversational delivery more common among jazz singers (Morning Prayer).
Tūmau Pea might lack the requisite banger that R’n’B demands but this nine-song collection is classy, consistent pop of rare intimacy that has something to say (Myriagon/No Photos Please).
Ebony Lamb
by Ebony Lamb
Formerly of the long-running indie-folk/alt-country outfit Eb and Sparrow and recent long-list finalist in the Silver Scrolls – for last year’s seductive low-light Take My Hands at Night, included here – Lamb is a mature solo artist with languidly weary songs (Come Put A Record On), hypnotic folk-pop (Salt Sand Sea and the country-flavoured Midnight is My Name).
A respected photographer (Phoenix Foundation’s Friend Ship cover among others), she has an eye for impressionistic observation. “See them all come at the downtown mall Friday night, she’s coming to a crawl, two-toned yellow. Orwell’s pen, sinner and the thief, at it again” on My Daughter My Sister My Son.
On Nadia Reid’s Slow Time label, recorded with Bic Runga, Kody Nielson and collaborator/partner Gram Antler (Jason Johnson, of Ed and Sparrow now in Pashtag), Lamb’s debut under her own name – which collects her five earlier singles and entered the NZ album charts at number two – offers crafted adult reflection and musical sophistication.
King Clown
by Paige
Meticulously crafted contemporary pop elevated by award-winning Paige’s wistful style (the listless California, the quiet World’s Too Big and the acoustic invitation of Fall Around Me).
Here are post-midnight soul (Miles Away with Ant Saunders, the beach-night mood of Sunflower), cleverly constructed, hook-filled songs (Loyalty, I Hope You Knew, which stops just the right side of being a predictable banger), summer cruising (Aquarian, Dance With You) and sassy dance-pop (Bitch Boy). A debut like a collection of radio-friendly hits, which is also charting well. Impressive.
The Collection
by Dinah Lee
After appearances on Tami Neilson’s tour, this compilation by Hall of Famer Dinah Lee – with some of her 1960s ad jingles included – went into the top 10 for albums by New Zealand artists. It includes signature hits (Don’t You Know Yockomo, Reet Petite, Do the Blue Beat), period oddities (the Beatles’ tribute Yeh Yeh We Love ‘Em All), standards (Summertime given beat-pop soul treatment), stompers that suit her sometimes abrasive style and Jordan Luck’s romantic Cathedral Square from 2014.
Also comes as a 74-song Complete Collection three-CD set. They are models of pop economy: Blue Beat is less than two minutes, most others are well short of three. More radio play that way.
The Ebony Lamb and Paige albums are available digitally, on CD and vinyl. Olivia Foa’i’s is available digitally, and Dinah Lee is on CD only.
