Not particularly loquacious, and certainly not overly verbose, are probably the best ways to describe the web pages of an Auckland 17-year-old woman who’s recording music as Little Dove.
Her Bandcamp page says “This EP is a collection of music made, entirely and messily in my little sleep out, by myself. I hope you enjoy.”
And her Soundcloud account isn’t more detailed. “Little Dove is a young Independent artist currently making dreamy Indie pop from her little sleep out in New Zealand.”
There is a Facebook page for Little Dove, but it belongs to an American band with the same name and has 15,000 followers.
But yes, Auckland’s Little Dove is talented beyond her years. At 17 years old she’s released her debut EP. It is full of experimentation, and songs that are crafted to a standard way beyond the skills of many twice her age.
The EP’s title Buried in the Backyard is a line from track two, Stars; a spoken word piece which sits on a cohesive texture of instruments, that blend together to provide a gentle canvas.
Other tracks like the opener Bruise, or song 4, Rosebud, are more conventional. Think dreamy pop, the feeling of UK’s Cocteau Twins, without being drowned in 1980's over production. It’s gentle, but nowhere near dull.
Going out on a limb, I’d say Rosebud is the most conventional song, and if she’s going for crossover into to chart success this should be a single. Stunning vocal harmonies, gentle acoustic guitar melodic keys which could be old school Casio PCM (pitch code modulation), well-engineered, it has hit written all over it.
The five song EP wraps up with Groceries which has her exercising her vocal upper register, and singing of someone else picking up groceries, or her picking up someone’s groceries. I’m not quite sure which.
It’s a refreshing EP.
Little Dove is a young Independent artist currently making dreamy Indie pop from her little sleep out in New Zealand.