Sugar Like That
By Gin Wigmore
Wigmore’s second single of the year is another of her spaghetti-western glam-garage stompers, with guitars buzzing like a thousand tattoo engravers, vocals that reach some Robert Plant frequencies, and lyrics about a “she” who possibly needs to borrow a cup of sugar for reasons unknown but is carrying, or is herself, a switchblade. Careful! Not one of Wigmore’s greatest songs. Nevertheless, it will be quite the blast-off to those summer festival sets at Rhythm & Vines and elsewhere. – Russell Baillie
Good Things
by Kaylee Bell
Just as New Zealand received a glimmer of warmer weather this week, Kaylee Bell releases a cheerful, road-trippy track about good things heading one’s way. An up-tempo strum of guitar and catchy chorus drive along the blend of country and pop, making for a track that will go down a treat at any live show. Originally from Waimate in South Canterbury, the country singer-songwriter is out conquering the world having supported the likes of Ed Sheeran, The Chicks and Keith Urban – her 2019 song Keith having blown up on Tik Tok. Just last week, she became the first New Zealander to win the “Jeff Walker Global Country Artist” award at the US Country Music Association Awards, for boosting the genre’s popularity here in Aotearoa. Bell and band kick off a summer tour at the South Island Food & Wine Festival in Christchurch on December 2. – Alana Rae
Romeo
by Georgia Lines
Pop artists used to release songs or singles. Now they deliver bangers, anthems or summer vibes. This from Lines — last year’s Aotearoa Music Awards Breakthrough Artist of the Year — is billed as a “synth-pop stadium-ready anthem”. And they may well be right: Romeo arrives from the 80s on the back of synth beats, phone-waving rhythms and a huge dollop of singalong pop. Not the whole anthem but certainly stadium-ready in advance of her dates in the US this month. – Graham Reid
It’s All Over You
by Robinson
Robinson balances the comforting nature of mellow folk pop with her creative, honest lyrics in It’s All Over You. The second verse especially holds space for some impressive writing from the Nelson-born singer-songwriter: “The living room’s alight/ flames are covering your eyes if you waited any longer just the thought of me would make you blind”. The subtle guitar elevates the track just enough so as not to detract from her assured vocals – which aren’t dissimilar to fellow acoustic pop heavyweight Gracie Abrams. – Alana Rae
I Believe in Love Again
by Peggy Gou and Lenny Kravitz
With retro-brain Lenny Kravitz on board, the Berlin-based Korean-born DJ and R’n’B pop star Peggy Guo was always going to be looking backwards, here to a kind of slinky soul-cum-disco funk with the song title being the obvious but memorable hook. Not quite the addictive dance floor pop of her hit It Goes Like Nanana (which indeed does go “nanana”) but another hint of a promising pop-cum-dance debut album. And her headlining appearance at the Golden Heights Music Festival in Auckland, January 4. – Graham Reid
White Wine in the Sun
by Paul Kelly
The two best Australian Christmas songs are Who’s Going to Make The Gravy by Paul Kelly and White Wine in the Sun by Tim Minchin. Kelly has just extended his 2021 yuletide album Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train with a couple more tracks. Included is his rendition of Minchin’s ode to the season from an sentimental atheist Aussie sav-blanc-quaffing, doting father point of view. Kelly just recites the lyrics like a poem which, in its own way is a lovely tribute. It’s over to Minchin to return the favour, possibly in his forthcoming March NZ tour. Possibly something off Kelly’s album Comedy? – Russell Baillie
The Words One Hears in Silence/ How Do I Look My Best
from Face by Ross Harris. Allison Bell soprano, Henry Choo tenor. Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Antony Hermus conductor.
We’ve just commemorated Armistice Day, and there’s an enormous amount of music written about WWI. Among the most interesting artistic responses to the WWI centenary (2014-2018) was Face, by Kiwi composer Ross Harris, which confronts the horrors of war through its survivors. Along with poet Vincent O’Sullivan, who wrote the text, Harris explores the work of pioneering plastic surgeon Harold Gillies, a New Zealander who developed new techniques in an attempt to give dignity to returned soldiers who had suffered facial injuries.
Find the Listener’s Songs of the Week playlist on Spotify.
