20 May 2015 // A review by Andrew Smit
Citizen is a formidable collection of Waiata/Songs that encompasses an amazingly broad range of styles and influences from old and new, it somehow manages to cross cultures and genres without sounding contorted, and thus delivers a compelling presentation of sound that marks new territory for the three piece band from Wellington.

Wow where do I start, it’s so broad and colourful, there is surprising classical guitar and jazz piano, also there is piano accordion, saxophones, flutes, funky keyboard sounds and effects, all providing a wide pallet of experiences. Overall it presents itself as a modern master with influences from the old and new world combined quite well, where the beats and musical elements are more modern in taste while the vocals have a more pacific island flavour with wonderful traditional vocal arrangements prevalent in each track.

The beats are a mash up of jazz and funk, there is some reggae and also a bit of dub step, but as diverse as it sounds each track is well held together by its steady rhythm, as the only real constant in the album is each tracks tempo, some are slow and other are more upbeat, but they are steady enough to provide a stable foundation for the more experimental musical elements and the wonderfully soulful vocal performances.

So in summary Citizen is an album that opens the ears and the mind to new dimensions in a very broad and daring way, its full of new experiences with its unique blend of music that will equally surprise and entertain you.

From the tail of the fish to the tip, Aotearoa has been swept up in the music of Trinity Roots, a boil-­?up of ingredients that seemed to embody the very essence of our home, land and sea, and serve as an invocation to that same environment. The influences that the group brought together joined the dots between head-­nodding reggae, slow-­burning funk and jazz to form an undeniably indigenous waiata, unconstrained by genre boxes.

Together, Warren Maxwell, Rio Hunuki-­Hemopo and Riki Gooch took audiences to unchartered territory with every big-­hearted, hypnotic live show they performed over the seven years that marked the first phase of their career. An esteemed line-­up of guest musicians and vocalists augmented performances that could shape shift between gently undulating grooves, soul-­baring anthems, and full on psyche-­rock jams, but at the core was the dynamic of three players who seemed to operate on a level of musical telepathy.

Following on from their perfectly formed self-­titled EP in 2000, Trinity Roots expanded their palette of sounds on two long players, True (2002) and Home, Land and Sea (2004), releases that were rewarded with platinum sales, setting the stage for other home grown independent successes that followed. And then they left us in 2005 to pursue new projects, taking their individual energies to groups like Little Bushman, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Breaks Co-Op and Eru Dangerspiel.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Trinity Roots

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