Autumn is the third album from Lyttelton-based musician, Amiria Grenell and it’s a solid addition to a steadily growing and poignant body of work. The first release through Grenell’s own Quiet Bird Records, the album opens with the jazzy, driving Rain, and from there flows seamlessly through its 13 numbers.
Lyrically, it reads a little on the fantastical side – someone reinterpreting familiar aspects of life and giving them more credence through a kind of faux, exaggeratedly historical lens, though this serves well to make each song feel ‘bigger', and there are definitely elements of brilliant lyricism; “it’s just a ‘like’ or a ‘love’ or a dance with pride” being a personal favourite.
There are contrasting elements in the instrumentation of individual songs that on paper should not work, and yet somehow manage to make the overall product feel completely cohesive. The production is masterful, and so slick that it is almost a detriment to the music – if only in the sense that anything describing itself as ‘folk’ should seemingly reflect of human error, and if any mistakes do occur they are not apparent.
Aspects of some songs draw
direct vocal comparisons to both Tori Amos and Laura Marling (most notably Your
Sky and Sea Salt), but overall, the lyrical themes and nuances are so
completely kiwi that the similarities are negated. A beautiful piece of work.
Autumn is available on Amiria Grenell's Bandcamp Page.
Daughter of legendary country musician John Grenell, Amiria grew up on a farm in Whitecliffs, Canterbury, where her family hosted decades of music festivals in the back paddocks. She has followed her heritage into a colourful and long-standing career as a touring artist and respected songwriter. Winner of a Tui NZ Music Award for her album Three Feathers (2011) and finalist for the same award for album Autumn (2015), her new album The Winter Light is sure to be yet another album to be embraced across Aotearoa.
Photo Credit: Naomi Haussmann & Michael Gilling