22 Dec 2024
UsernamePassword

Remember Me? | Join | Recover
Click here to sign in via social networking

TUi MAMAKi - Album Review: Fly

29 Oct 2018 // A review by jacquiew

Tui Mamaki's album Fly is an ancestral crie du coeur inspired by her time spent living in Bulgaria. Tui was born in France and raised in Aotearoa/New Zealand and there is a certain global transcendence to her music. It evokes many cultures with its surprising key shifts, dominated always by Tui's mesmerising vocal intonation.

Tui's rich vocal timbre is evident from the opening track Follow, a song that would make the perfect soundtrack to a slightly unsettling but nevertheless poignant fairy-tale. Delicate percussion contributions from Tunji Beier add a lovely aspect to the entire album, helping to evoke the atmosphere of an intimate candlelit intimate setting after the first heavy fall of snow for the winter. There is a hush and a thrall to the sonic landscape Tui has created here.

Lift Off takes us to a more verdant landscape with intermittent birdsong accompaniment and showcases Tui creating a lovely effect harmonising with herself in lilting lament. It could be easy to think that this is 'simple' music and yet there is great craft in this kind of simplicity and nowhere at all to hide. Its naked power makes it all the more memorable and haunting.

Same Sun is a standout track. Its beautiful lyrics take the listener on a journey that traverses epic myths and the domestic details that unite us all. 

Deeply evocative and contemplative, with ancestral voices calling from just beyond the veil, this is a gorgeous album when approached in the right mood and in the right place and time.

Rating: ( 4 / 5 )
 

About TUi MAMAKi

Haunting, spirited vocals over hypnotic odd-meter grooves. A meeting of delicacy and power. Original compositions inspired by Tui Mamaki's love affair with Bulgaria, spliced with traditional song, these are stories of love, harvest, death & transcendence.

Tui Mamaki is a vocal explorer, performer, composer/arranger, born in France, raised in Aotearoa/NZ and often residing in Bulgaria. She can thank her musically adventurous troubadour family for giving her a taste for sounds from far-away places. In following her voice, she has travelled to Pay Basque, India and the Balkans to study traditional vocal techniques and repertoire.


Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for TUi MAMAKi

Releases

A L'Aube
Year: 2022
Type: EP
Fly
Year: 2018
Type: Album

Other Reviews By jacquiew

Belladonna - Single Review: Calling Out Your Name
25 Mar 2020 // by jacquiew
Wellington-based singer-songwriter Belladonna’s second single Calling Out Your Name is a refreshing and surprisingly upbeat piece of work, especially given its topic of clinging on to the past. Belladonna has a gift for writing a catchy hook, and she employs that talent to great effect here.
Read More...
Jen Turner - Single Review: Singing With Whales
12 Mar 2020 // by jacquiew
Singing with Whales by Jen Turner is a real gem of a single. Reflective and introspective in the particular way that break up songs tend to be, it’s also seriously catchy.
Read More...
Ria Hall - Album Review: Manawa Wera
27 Feb 2020 // by jacquiew
Ria Hall’s new collection of songs Manawa Wera is everything anyone could want from a new release. Hall is without doubt one of Aotearoa’s finest female vocalists and her material is thought-provoking and moving without ever being strident or preachy.
Read More...
Gig Review: Jackie Bristow @ The Boathouse, Nelson - 14/02/2020
15 Feb 2020 // by jacquiew
There was a lot to love about Jackie Bristow’s performance at The Boathouse in Nelson. The Boathouse has got to be one of the most spectacular settings in New Zealand for a music venue.
Read More...
Levi Lights On Project - Single Review: Like A Tie
14 Nov 2019 // by jacquiew
Levi Lights On Project have a knack for writing material that captures the zeitgeist and their latest single is no exception. Moody, gritty and evocative, Like a Tie is the perfect song for a television or film soundtrack with a Walter Mitty-esque theme of an office worker or corporate executive who dreams of throwing off the shackles of the 9 to 5 and living a more colourful existence.
Read More...
Albi & The Wolves - Gig Review: Albi and the Wolves @ Room Twenty5, Nelson
26 Oct 2019 // by jacquiew
Auckland-based trio Albi and the Wolves have made a real impression on the festival scene both here and overseas, especially since their Best Folk Artist of the Year Tui Award win in 2018. Just days ago, the group were named in the line-up for WOMAD 2020, a well-deserved nod for the very hardworking and talented Chris Dent, Micheal Young, and Pascal Roggen.
Read More...
Gig Review: Tami Neilson @ Nelson Arts Festival - 21/10/2019
22 Oct 2019 // by jacquiew
Tami Neilson is outrageously excellent. Her voice is full, powerful, nuanced and rich.
Read More...
Gig Review: Hollie Smith @ The Playhouse, Nelson - 22/09/2019
23 Aug 2019 // by jacquiew
Hollie Smith has a lovely voice and is a highly-regarded singer known to many for her work with TrinityRoots and Fly My Pretties, and for her vocals on the Don McGlashan penned hit Bathe In The River. Smith has also had significant success in her solo career to date.
Read More...
View All Articles By jacquiew

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • APT.
    ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
  • DIE WITH A SMILE
    Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
  • BIRDS OF A FEATHER
    Billie Eilish
  • TASTE
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
    Gracie Abrams
  • ESPRESSO
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • SAILOR SONG
    Gigi Perez
  • LOSE CONTROL
    Teddy Swims
  • A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
    Shaboozey
  • GOOD LUCK, BABE!
    Chappell Roan
View the Full NZ Top 40...
muzic.net.nz Logo
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report a ProblemReport A Problem