All posts tagged New Zealand

House Of Dolls – Yellow Turns Grey

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If St. Vincent and Amnesiac-era Radiohead got together in the studio, the end result would probably sound something like House Of Dolls – a duo comprising of Marie Celeste and Kit Lawrence from Christchurch, New Zealand.

Yellow Turns Grey is a winding, off-kilter track sparked by stark sounding beats, wiry, dissonant guitar riffs, chiming orchestration and murmured, disconnected vocals. Like a black and white rainbow, its paranoid funk conjures a distinctive Lynchian mood. A world of buzzing flies and blinking strip lights – hallucinations and cold sweats at three A.M. when your reflection’s your only friend. Like a facsimile of itself, its looping eccentricity is a large part of its appeal.

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Paul Baird

Mali Mali – Pages

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I’ve just been acquainted with the glorious work of Mali Mali – as today beaming over from Auckland, New Zealand they (primarily the work of singer/songwriter Ben Tolich) bring to yearning ears a debut album, “Gather ’round the Gooseclock“. On a changeable day like today, it is quite easy to become smitten.

Opener “Pages” is a sparse arrangement centred around a cloudy sequence of piano chords, the discreet pulse of a kick drum, and voice – a wonderfully human performance; understated, fragile but with an indeterminate emotional weight carried through Tolich’s excellent phrasing. It is lovely also to hear the unique shades of his accent come through in an age when so many mask their own, or steal others. When the strings arrive (in a haunting manner almost in homage to Robert Kirby’s work on Nick Drake’s “Five Leaves Left” or Ben & Jason’s “Hello”) it is as if the the remaining pieces of a floating jigsaw puzzle have suddenly become buoyant and completed a picture that is both beautiful and beguiling.

While nothing else on the broadly acoustic “..Gooseclock” is quite as stark as “Pages”, I easily can see it finding a home with fans of King Creosote & Jon Hopkins‘ “Diamond Mine”. It absolutely deserves broader consideration beyond antipodean waters. Gather ’round.

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Mike Phillips