Troy Kingi says the next instalment of his 10/10/10 album series will be based in the 1980s. Photo / Supplied
Troy Kingi says the next instalment of his 10/10/10 album series will be based in the 1980s. Photo / Supplied
Award-winning Kerikeri musician Troy Kingi is halfway through an ambitious project, and its latest chapter will bring him to Whanganui in August.
Kingi released his first full length album, the bluesy Guitar Party at Uncle's Bach, in 2016, but that was just the first of a planned 10 recordsover 10 years - in 10 different genres.
Since then he has dropped four more, covering roots reggae, psychedelic soul, funk and now folk.
It's the folk album that he will be performing at the Royal Whanganui Opera House.
Black Sea Golden Ladder, a collaboration with New Zealand country artist Delaney Davidson, was made during Kingi's Matairangi Mahi Toi Artist Residency in Wellington last year.
"He [Davidson] is a beautiful dude. There was a bit of push and pull, but at the end of it he said it was an album he could never have done by himself.
"It's something I could never have done by myself either."
The folk album came after last year's funk record The Ghost of Freddie Cesar, and Kingi said he wanted the two to be "really angular" to each other.
"People who are fresh to my journey might think 'what the hell is this guy up to?' and basically, that's what I wanted."
Collaboration had played a key role in all his 10/10/10 albums to date, Kingi said.
"If you go back to the reggae album [Holy Colony Burning Acres], I felt like I needed to get someone who was entrenched in that style.
"That's why Hani Totorewa [formerly of Katchafire] did all the keys on that. It's really subtle in the background, but that's what I feel gives it its vibe and its reggae soul.
"Within these genres you get people who know their stuff, and the same goes with getting Delaney on board."
Kingi's roots reggae release Holy Colony Burning Acres won the 2020 Taite Music Prize. Photo / Supplied
While he didn't want to give too much away about the next album in the series, Kingi said it would be "based in the '80s".
"There have been moments over the last year where I'm wondering what I've got myself into, but then I'm sitting with Delaney or working on this next album with real awesome people and I'm like 'yeah, this is why I'm doing it'.
"It'll be interesting to come out of the 10 albums and write a song without any boxes around me, and just see what happens."
Kingi didn't release his first album until he was in his early 30s, having spent his 20s raising his children.
"They then got to an age where I thought 'maybe I'm going to pick this [music] back up again.
"I don't feel like there's an age limit on music. There might be an age limit as an actor and all that sort of thing, but good music is good music.
"I'm at a spot now where if people don't like what I'm doing that's fine, as long as I do."
His latest album was the first that was truly about him personally, Kingi said.
"There were times during the making of it that I was looking in the mirror and wondering if this stuff was even interesting. I don't feel like I've had an extraordinary life.
"I think in that super ordinary life is where the connection is that most people can relate to."
Each song on Black Sea Golden Ladder touches on a different phase of life.
Kingi said he was finding it hard to write the lyrics, so he would sit down with Davidson for up to an hour and talk about a particular subject, with Davidson taking notes.
"He would flip the laptop around and say 'I think we've got some lyrics here'.
"I was like 'wow, some of that ordinary stuff I was saying actually looks good'. I thought it was just some boring s*** that I was doing."
Kingi said he had has been accompanied by a nine-piece band for all his summer gigs, so performing to a seated audience with only Davidson for company would be "super different".
"It's a new phase and a new challenge.
"I'm looking forward to playing in these seated venues where everyone's not raging and on the piss.
"They're sitting there listening to what you have to say."
