Author: Bob Fish

Album | Oisin Leech – Cold Sea

Magic is a funny thing. When it occurs there’s no stopping it, and Oisin Leech’s Cold Sea is a product of magic. The stars aligned. There’s really no other way to explain it. A pause in the world forced Lost…

Album | Itasca – Imitation of War

In the four years since Itasca’s Spring the world has changed completely, so there may be no antecedents for Imitation of War. It is an electric album, but one with a delicacy unlike anything else heard this year. It exists out of time…

Album | Mol Sullivan – Goose

The gestation period of a goose is 28 days. Mol Sullivan’s first album, Goose, needed to gestate a bit longer. Quite a bit longer, 15 years to be exact. She had to deal with a decade-long affair, not with a…

Album | All The Bees – All The Bees

All The Bee sneak up on you. While the music is quiet and seems unassuming, the effect it has takes hold and won’t let go. Kirsty McGee and Gitika Partington sing and play in ways that are outside of the…

Album | Smoke Fairies – Carried in Sound

In the muddled pathways of the pandemic, the Smoke Fairies looked less at the glass ball, reaching instead for reflecting on lives, loves and losses that formed Carried in Sound. What’s most striking is the way, with the aid of…

Album | Thea Gilmore – Thea Gilmore

The strange days are over. Thea Gilmore survived a rancorous divorce with an album documenting that toxic relationship, Afterlife released under the name Afterlight. But now she returns with an album 25 years in the making, and one markedly self-titled,…

Album | Iron And Wine – Who Can See Forever

Sam Beam has been recording as Iron and Wine for over 20 years, so the thought of looking back at his career with a live concert film, Who Can See Forever makes sense. Evolving in much the same way his…

Album | Kristen Grainger & True North – Fear of Falling Stars

In a world that demands the ability to pigeonhole bands, Kristen Grainger & True North make life difficult. Their album, Fear of Falling Stars doesn’t fit easily into a particular box. Especially since a couple of the songs are sung…

Album | Amy Hollinrake – Sad Lady Songs Vol. 1

Amy Hollinrake has her feet planted in two worlds. She is an English feminist singer-songwriter combining folklore and mythology with contemporary sounds and instruments that are both contemporary and traditional. Creating a head spinning mix of yesterday and today, Sad…

Album | Ebony Lamb – Ebony Lamb

How do you define who you are? To say Ebony Lamb is a recording artist simply doesn’t do her justice. She’s also a preeminent photographer, whose images of New Zealand’s literary figures and independent music scene gave her a certain…