The influence of New Zealand music from the ‘80s and ‘90s is ever-present in the current independent music scene.
The influence of New Zealand music from the ‘80s and ‘90s is ever-present in the current independent music scene. The music of Chris Knox is an integral part of this sound and he was recently paid tribute to on the charming compilation of covers, Stroke. The Morr Music label cast the net wider with Not Given Lightly, but doesn’t wander very far into unchartered waters. There are several songs penned by Knox and his Tall Dwarfs on this expansive (but hardly experimental) album, while the rest covers songs from handful of renowned acts including The Chills, JPS Experience and The Clean.
Various musicians from the Morr Music label collectively deliver a gentle glitch-pop sound, which makes for a tribute compilation more cohesive than most, but it all sounds a hell of a lot more Postal Service than Flying Nun. It’s the alternative NZ sound that has inspiring so many garage/lo-fi acts today, but this album aims to quietly engage with the songbook instead.
Reworking well-known classics can be risk-taking and here it reaps the least rewards when the covers play it safe. The whiny vocal, thick jangling guitar and primitive drum machine are what make a song like Not Given Lightly what it is; when politely appropriated by Boh Runga or B. Fleishmann, it comes off as an overly sentimental lullaby.
On the other hand, a song as haunting and off-kilter as The Chills’ Pink Frost is ripe for interpretation – The Go Find and Masha Qrella make a wise choice here and their covers of this classic are two of the standouts, as are the contributions from Electric President. But it’s hard to get excited about even the good stuff, when the songs represent merely a snippet of the NZ alternative scene – some more obscure or unexpected choices would have made for a more enlightening collection of interpretations.
A second disc of original music illustrating the given influence is thrown in, falling in line with the label’s similarly structured tribute to Slowdive, Blue Skied ‘An Clear. The songs pulled together for disc two bear little resemblance to the NZ alternative music scene, nor are they even covers – it’s basically just a role call of the label’s current acts. It may seem a bit churlish to complain about an additional disc of perfectly good music (especially with fine acts like Radical Face and Surf City on offer), but these tribute albums would perhaps be more effective without the inclusion of thinly veiled promo samplers.
