Sarah Valintine is a Tamaki Makaurau-Based poet and songwriter. Words is her latest release, and it's a part of a more expansive project called the Pop Poetry Collection.
Valintine describes her songwriting approach as ’prose- first’ and Words is derived from this poetic method of lyric writing. Using such a methodology in writing songs is not without its own particular challenges - the text can dominate at the expense of melodic considerations, as evidenced by Dylan's Laundry List songs (for example). In Valintines’ case, she has taken care with balancing the melodic, harmonic and lyrical content, and the scansion feels natural and musical, with no sense of it being a ‘word setting exercise’. No small feat.
The musical setting for Words is built around finger-picked guitar in a country/folk kind of vein. Around that, the skilled production and arrangement team of Tom Broome and Guy Harrison have ensured that the rhythm section work is light yet tight, and shaped some understated and musically sensitive moments in the structure and arrangement. The end result is an effective blend of the lyrical and the musical, very much evoking the mood that lyrics have set out.
Words is mature and intelligent work.
Poetry-pop artist Sarah Valintine wrote her first collection of songs by the beach in her hometown Orewa. Inspired by her love of nature, words and bold art, Sarah performs her pocket songs live at pubs and local events around Auckland. Her latest release release Flown Away is a whimsical pop-folk track from her forthcoming debut album The Poetry-Pop Collection.