Te Whakamiha
By Anna Coddington
On an album where the title alludes to showing appreciation, respect or paying a compliment, the award-winning Anna Coddington opens with the joyful Kātuarehe, an overt tribute to Prince’s sassy funk for the dance floor.
It sets exactly the right tone of wit, enjoyable indulgence and homage on an album that also nods to classic soul (the gentle-sounding-but-bitter Call Your Mother). It has a duet with Troy Kingi on the soul ballad Honey Back about a fractured relationship, and a rhythmically driving, assertive rap on Gainz with backing vocals from Julia Deans, Anika Moa and Hollie Smith: “Life’s not a league, we livin’ in the final, so run it straight, fix your face, put a smile on.”
Tōmina harks back to Philly soul, Mōhou Rā goes to the 1980s for vibrant synth-pop and Te Taumata Ike places Coddington’s engaging vocal over a moody guitar part, which is like early Cure before it fades beneath the dance-floor groove.
Produced and mixed by Jol Mulholland – who also contributes bass, guitars and synths – the retro-fitted but contemporary, forward-facing bilingual Te Whakamiha is appropriately launched at Matariki when we reflect on the past, celebrate the present and prepare for the future: “Put a smile on.”
I Hear You
By Peggy Gou
Born in South Korea, currently Berlin-based and an eclectic electronica artist, DJ and fashion icon, Gou comes across as the hippest woman in the club and the go-to gal for Kylie Minogue (whose Can’t Get You Out of My Head she remixed two years ago) and Lenny Kravitz (their slinky-pop duet I Believe in Love Again is on this debut album).
Aside from ridiculously catchy, often minimalist, techno – her humid dance-floor hit (It Goes Like) Nanana here has had more than 467 million Spotify streams – Gou also creates some international rap with Villano Antillano on All That. She tips the hat to her homeland on the faux-Korean instrumentation on Seoulsi Peggygou, delivers holiday-mood house on I Go and references Salvador Dali in the title of the poppy Lobster Telephone.
Gou works with a limited palette but makes plenty of bright, colourful clubland pop out of simple, high-sheen elements.
Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free
By Bonny Light Horseman
This third album by the folk-Americana semi-supergroup – solo artist/singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, multi-instrumentalists Eric D Johnson (formerly of Fruit Bats and the Shins) and Josh Kaufmann – is a hefty, 18-song double album of heartache mixed with some of life’s pleasures.
Mitchell has a commanding, distinctive voice that bends to upbeat country (Hare and Hound) or the more personal emotions (Lover Take It Easy). Pop elements keep the mood buoyant (Old Dutch) to temper the overall reflective tone (Singing to the Mandolin, Into the O).
Mitchell and Johnson make for a domestic pairing of sweet and scratchy (Rock the Cradle) and there are nuggets throughout (When I Was Younger, Speak to Me Muse, Your Arms All the Time).
Best judiciously sampled, otherwise this album can feel like a long ride that only rarely breaks into a canter.
These albums are available digitally and on vinyl and CD.
