Now, this is an inspiring collaboration.  

What we know as When We're Free was originally a collection of duets by Qedric James (The New Brides) and Kayleigh Cook recorded somewhere near New Plymouth. Three years later, those late spring acoustic sessions have resurfaced, refined and layered with the full band treatment.

The band makes all the difference here. The musicians add an extra depth to an already rich sound, and without them When We're Free is just two people in a room with a piano and a guitar. Romantic as that sounds, it's a situation any one as talented as these two could find themselves in. But reaching out to a collection of Wellington musicians to finish off the product, that's something else. The back story caught my interest, the music kept it.

The orange tinged cover art, a view looking back towards Paritutu and the Sugar Loaf Islands from somewhere near Oakura, is the perfect illustration of this collection. It's warm, sunny, afternoon listening. No matter how trivial the lyrical emotion, or how sultry and bluesy Kayleigh gets, the music is still laid back and feel good. There are moments that feel like an advert from Grey's Anatomy, you know the one's where everyone is crying. There's a tenderness and some unnamed feeling that everything is going to be alright.

This is probably the last we'll hear from James/Cook unless the recordings are released again in their original form (or perhaps a trip-hop remix), but this wasn't meant to be a full-time thing. When We're Free is a time capsule of beautiful moment. A snap shot of a fleeting moment, complete down to the whispered count-ins of "two, three, four" and the creeping ocean waves breaking in the peripheries of the recording.

PS Extra credit for the new contender in the Misheard Lyric of the Year with this line from Sand & Stone: "cos She is Sad / He is Stoned / She's slips thru his hands / but with him she could be an old A-Hole"

• 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

• 
  Goodshirt @ Festival of Lights - Pukekura Park, New Plymouth - 21/12/2024
• 
  The Slacks @ Festival of Lights - Pukekura Park, New Plymouth - 21/12/2024
• 
  LOST BiRD @ Space Academy, Christchurch - 15/12/2024
• 
  Just Janie @ Space Academy, Christchurch - 15/12/2024

• 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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