Jude Kelly has an impressive debut single Bonnet Bunny which rides along the Americana highway toward bright Indie Pop.
I know Judah Jude Kelly comes from Dunedin and was raised by parents who are both pastors. Left home at fifteen which is not the norm these days. She’s 25 years old with her debut single
Her voice and phrasing on Bunny suggest a wide hedonistic world view, the opposite of bedsit innocence and posting bedroom-recorded clips on Tik Tok.
Not the fey breathy vocals of Folkie ingenues picking an acoustic guitar and reducing to whispers. They are in abundance.
This song reflects the rapidly opening experience of consciousness, from being a prim and closeted teen to the liberation of the unfiltered world.
The feeling of vitality, indestructibility and limitless possibility slowly gets tempered by the call of an occupation, long term relationships, children.
The social structure has changed. We could go to university on the taxpayer. Student debt was just a bad dream. We could stay indefinitely even if we didn’t pass anything. That was the definition professional student.
Put it this way. In 1979 in New Zealand, Punk was peaking. No Internet, cell phones, social media, CDs, streaming, downloads, uploads.
Though this may be a cliché, Jude Kelly lives in a radically different social environment to her parents.
I realise there are massive difficulties to address with the professional music industry. The loss of revenue and therefore financial support to make original music. The heart of the problem are streaming services, or at the very least they are a big part of the problem.
Well established artists I have interviewed recently, have expressed their concerns for how the young artists will find it harder to break through than they did.
What social media has done is raise the bar in standards of music. Great talent comes from learning music on YouTube. Recording and mixing tools on laptops.
Even in a small backwater like New Zealand we have a plethora of great talent. How can it all be accommodated?
Which makes Kelly a good bet to watch, on the strength of Bonnet Baby.
She has a strong voice with Soul depth. Modern Americana Country which veers more toward Miley Cyrus than Shania Twain.
A galloping rhythm to start, which might include a banjo unless its an acoustic guitar.
Stays bright and builds into a Pop Disco banger. The production values sound like it would not be out of place at Polar Studios, the home of ABBA.
If love was a curse/ Then the lust would be our glory. Living in the glorious existential present.
Playing at Goblin on Black Friday with her first public performance, the sound is too bottom heavy, and it buries her voice.
It does take the third song in to hear her voice rise above, and this is with her debut single. The delivery is a bit flat.
The sound mix improves with next one, Like You. Starts with a quiet keyboard intro, allowing us to hear some nice Folk Pop phrasing. Smooth clear vocals which can climb effortlessly whilst eschewing any vibrato.
She may have been nervous and a little amped at the start. By fourth song Married to Her Death, she is starting to coast with strong Soul to R’n’B number.
More Folk with Lucky and it has some similarities to Chris Knox’s Not Given Lightly. The Dunedin hometown connection.
She closes this debut show with the band laying out some Garage Band Rock’n’roll.
All this from a forthcoming debut EP.
We know Jude Kelly has a great voice and clear talent as a songwriter to get above the high bar of popular success in present times.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photos courtesy of Felix Jackson