Hannah Everingham plays Indie Folk music with a strong resonant voice carried by the classic electric twang of a Gibson Les Paul.
She comes from Christchurch and is up in Auckland as the starting point to promote her brand-new single Mercury, released today.
Usually plays as a trio with drums and double bass, but tonight she is solo to kick off the tour.
On the recorded version, Mercury is driven by a spare rhythm section. It refers to the planet, not the famous American car label. Tonight, the singer drifts along with a smooth pop vocal, the guitar adding a post-Buddy Holly guitar twang.
Charles Hardin Holley started as pure pre-Nashville Country, saw Elvis, and came up with the signature chiming Folk Pop sound which fuelled the Big Bang of the Beatles.
Everingham tells me prior to the show, she has been listening to a fair amount of Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell. The Mitchell influence is ubiquitous amongst singers of a folkie bent. Bush is interesting from a theatrical perspective. Both can weave stories and conjure cinematic images.
Half of her set has a Latino Spanish sound, including the language.
A highlight is Maria which resembles the Canadian icon the most. Jaunty and bright in a similar fashion to Big Yellow Taxi. Mitchell has said this was her attempt at Chuck Berry style Rock’n’roll.
Catalina, who brings me flowers, is a pop song with the Tex-Mex sound of southern American border region.
A song about Eduardo who stole my money is sung in Spanish. The guitar plays both bass line and melody and is as spare and striking as the instrumentation of post-Punk band Young Marble Giants.
Judy Dench. An engaging song where she phrases like Dylan and borrows a little from the melody line of Donovan’s Season of the Witch. A nice way to bring those two together.
So Long Underground is her first single and leads her album from last year, Between Bodies. This song displays her full range, from husky lower tones to high emotive soprano.
A young Indie artist with a startling passionate voice. It would be good to hear the trio sound.
Samara Alofa
Samara Alofa plays ambient atmospheric drone music which is soothing and relaxing to experience as she begins with little fanfare.
She is a multi-media artist based in Auckland. Her heritage encompasses Māori, Samoan, Tongan, English and German. That is a wide palette to draw from.
I saw her here last year when she had an accompanying player. Tonight, she is solo and is using a fancy hi-tech gadget box to build up her sound collages.
The opening song is a jam of sorts. It is quite skeletal and conjures a spooky atmosphere. It sounds a lot like the early demo tapes of Suicide, with attenuated disembodied voices.
Back to the Gods and she sings with a nice Pop voice which sounds curiously like early female Girl Groups. Processed voices from the machine are added. Slow heartbeat rhythm and dreamy singing is reminiscent of Suicide’s Cheree.
A song called Kokako had its genesis from being in lockdown out in the western bushlands of Oratia. Bird noise is sampled, along with tinkling chimes and a jazz-styled bass rhythm.
Low key music sounding verdant and pastoral, and generally charming. It is not the tension-and-release of rowdier music. It is more like an Impressionist painting.
Hannah Everingham is appreciative of a quite full Wine Cellar tonight who listen attentively. It is just like being in a folk music club. She says it is traditionally Punk night on Thursdays. So, it may be quieter but you get to hear a lot of variations and subtlety from both artists.
Rev Orange Peel
Photos by Leonie Moreland