For those of you that frequent the muzic.net.nz website like I do, you may remember seeing an article about Dylan Storey’s 'The Power of Suggestion'. Forgot it? It’s got a cover with four identical coloured keys on it. Go back and look, it’s still there. It will tell you everything you need to know about the album, who worked on it etc. It will also tell you where you can download it for free!

The general sound of this release from Storey is familiar and Kiwi, which is surely an artefact of the inherent DIY sensibility of New Zealand music, and the fact the album was tracked in Storey’s home studio in the Waitakeres. New Zealand’s landscape is also engrained in the texture of the music. The chords in 'The Boss' roll across the listener like the breeze across the Pohutukawa, or the waves over the toes of a reviewer with an iPod. You can even hear what sounds like seashell mobiles blowing in the wind craftily hidden behind 'The Morning' by audio wiz Ryan Prebble. This makes excellent music for the rainy day inside. It’s also great ambience when friends come over for cups of tea.

The sound ranges from similar to Liam Finn’s solo work on 'Copy of a Copy', to that of his father, the jocund Neil Finn, on 'The Morning', and in between the two extremes 'River Song' is there, sending reverberating shivers through the ribs when the shrillness of the melancholic guitar solo flies in from the left. It’s the feeling one gets the first time hearing Nick Cave’s 'Tupelo'.

'Bold as Thieves' is the heaviest point of the album, heaps of fuzz here, and it’s my favourite for sure. I'm pretty sure that’s New Zealand’s best kept secret, Reb Fountain singing along in the background. The sound is haunting and the bass is deep and the lyrics thoughtfully metaphorical. To paint it for you more vividly, it’s like the New Zealand alternative folk version of any a Perfect Circle song.

The press release for the EP challenges the listener to go beyond the music and guess the metaphor illustrated on the cover. Trying to guess the metaphor behind the cover image and title track, 'Copy of a Copy', would reveal more about me, the reviewer, than the music itself, so I’ll leave that to you. If you answer is some kind of social commentary, you’ll enjoy the subtlety of Dylan's lyrics and the way the graceful laid-back music masks the blatantly caustic criticism of certain pieces of the machine you serve. Don’t be intimidated, it’s not as dark as I make it seem. Did I mention the graceful laid-back music? If you think the answer to our present problem is 'drugs' then this is also the album for you. Sit back, stare at the ceiling, unpick the layers of music as it washes over you and play spot the social commentary.

• 1
  Head Like A Hole
• 2
  Horror Story
• 3
  Fraser Ross
• 4
  Fur Patrol
• 5
  Michelle Rounds
• 6
  L.A.B.
• 7
  Devilskin
• 8
  Coridian
• 9
  The Boondocks
• 10
  Late to Chelsea

• 
  LOST BiRD @ Space Academy, Christchurch - 15/12/2024
• 
  Just Janie @ Space Academy, Christchurch - 15/12/2024
• 
  Dream Chambers @ Meow Nui, Wellington - 14/12/2024
• 
  The Phoenix Foundation @ Meow Nui, Wellington - 14/12/2024

• 1
  APT.
  ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
• 2
  DIE WITH A SMILE
  Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
• 3
  BIRDS OF A FEATHER
  Billie Eilish
• 4
  TASTE
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 5
  I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
  Gracie Abrams
• 6
  ESPRESSO
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 7
  SAILOR SONG
  Gigi Perez
• 8
  LOSE CONTROL
  Teddy Swims
• 9
  A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
  Shaboozey
• 10
  GOOD LUCK, BABE!
  Chappell Roan

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