23 Dec 2024
UsernamePassword

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

Matt Joe Gow & Kerryn Fields - Album Review: I Remember You

24 May 2024 // A review by Hannah Jane

I Remember You is the recently released collaborative offering from multi award winning Americana/Folk duo Matt Joe Gow & Kerryn Fields. Over ten delightful songs, this record weaves stories of loss and love together with a strong sense of connection to the places they call home.

Matt Joe Gow has a warm and powerful voice with an alt-rock vibe which complements Kerryn Field’s crystalline folk style. I particularly enjoy duets such as Your Heart Of Gold and Black Sand which showcase their voices beautifully as they trade verses and harmonise their way through poetic lyric.

No Trace is my personal favourite on the album; a poignant song with gorgeous harmonies and Kerryn’s incredible vocals which hearken back to folk singers of old. Her voice is both strong and vulnerable, and her delivery of emotion is flawless. The birdlike trill that comes from Kerryn’s mouth at times is a rare treat.

There’s a real blend of musicality in I Remember You, going from folk to bluegrass to Elvis-esque alt country at times. All in all, Americana goodness. Acoustic guitars and mandolin with strings and percussion create the musical bed for their voices to land on, while harmonica occasionally flies.

One of the loveliest arrangements in this album, is their exquisite cover of Sir Dave Dobbyn’s It Dawned On Me, which Kerryn cheekily introduces in concert as her ‘Uncle Dave’s song’. I hope he has heard it or hears it soon – it’s mind-blowing to me the impact music can have. 30 years after being written, new life breathes through a song, and off it goes again. What a legacy.

Over the past year, Kerryn Fields says she and Matt Joe Gow have played over fifty shows and featured at major festivals on both sides of the Tasman, touring while writing the songs and then often taking them immediately to the stage (or live on radio!).

I had the pleasure of hearing them at two of those shows, and again at a house concert hosted by Roger Bowie last December. What impressed me most is the storytelling Kerryn and Matt weave into their music, which is some of the most authentically heartfelt folk I have heard in a long time. I adore their camaraderie, and how much they clearly enjoy sharing their time and talents with audiences who willingly go along for the ride with them from song to song.

Matt Joe Gow & Kerryn Fields are true troubadours, and a delight to listen to!

Matt and Kerryn hope you join them on their journey, and I highly encourage folk-loving folk to get yourselves along to a show on this New Zealand tour. Follow them on socials and go get a copy of the album I Remember You as a way to take home a part of their travels with you.

 

About Matt Joe Gow & Kerryn Fields

Matt Joe Gow grew up in Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand, a place with bad weather and good music, meanwhile Kerryn Fields was raised in the North Island with one hand on guitar and the other firmly upon her heart. A kindred connection with their homeland brings an emotive strength to their music and gives their songs a sense of place and purpose.

Newstead Live Music Festival’s Troubadour Artist of the Year (2019), winner of the MLT Songwriting Award (NZ Country Music Awards 2019) and New Zealand’s Best New Broadcaster (at age 19), Kerryn Fields has released a range of celebrated records including debut LP, Rascal (2015) and award-winning, critically acclaimed single, Mamma (2019).

"The combined talents of both these two artists is really a perfect match and the chance to see them performing together should not be missed" - Myles O'Neil-Shaw, PBS FM

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Matt Joe Gow & Kerryn Fields

Releases

I Remember You
Year: 2024
Type: Album

Other Reviews By Hannah Jane

Lee Martin - Album Review: Dreamers Dawn
17 Nov 2024 // by Hannah Jane
Christchurch-based singer-songwriter Lee Martin has released her third studio album Dreamers Dawn – a dozen original songs crafted while dealing with personal challenges Lee faced during a time of transformation. The highs and lows are evident to the listener throughout the album, which includes highly personal lyric layered in a bed of genres from Indie Folk to Americana.
Read More...
South for Winter - Album Review: Of Sea and Sky
17 Jun 2024 // by Hannah Jane
Recorded and produced in Nashville TN alongside two-time Grammy award-winner, Matt Leigh, Of Sea and Sky is a beautiful offering from folk-rock trio South For Winter. New Zealander Nick Stone, Colorado native Dani Cichon (Stone), and Michigander Alex Stradal are three multi-instrumentalists and songwriters.
Read More...
Albi & The Wolves - Album Review: Light After The Dark
15 Dec 2023 // by Hannah Jane
Light After The Dark with its baker’s dozen of tunes is an infectious album that will uplift your soul. Award-winning indie folk stars Albi & the Wolves have created something of a wandering marching band for their third studio album which has made its way onto vinyl – one tick off their hopefully ambitious bucket list!
Read More...
Gig Review: Don McGlashan @ OneOneSix, Whangarei - 8/11/2023
14 Nov 2023 // by Hannah Jane
Back at my favourite musical venue up here in Whangarei tonight… OneOneSix is a community space beautifully set up for intimate shows suited to an attentive listening audience. If you live in Northland and haven’t been here yet, come join us!
Read More...
Gig Review: Hollie Smith @ One One Six, Whangarei - 4/11/2023
05 Nov 2023 // by Hannah Jane
Hollie Smith made a low-key entrance to the stage for her solo and intimate evening of music in Whangarei last night. There was a relaxed and casual vibe to the sold-out show, and the crowd responded well to Hollie’s candid delivery.
Read More...
Sam Heselwood - Single Review: Home
27 Jun 2023 // by Hannah Jane
Home is the new single from professional rugby player turned pop star Sam Heselwood – an up and coming Otautahi star who has already hit the charts and is clearly ‘one to watch’. An authentically vulnerable song, Home is both sweet and strong, and thoughtfully produced – recorded by Terence O’Connor and mixed by Simon Gooding.
Read More...
Jessica Leigh - Single Review: Wired
26 May 2023 // by Hannah Jane
Jessica Leigh’s new single Wired is a curious mix of upbeat pop and melancholic tones through jaded lyrics; “I’m getting tired, so I’m getting wired”. The lyrics in this track are heavily repetitive in part and given space to breathe in others, whilst carried by a fast moving and ever-changing bed of 80’s inspired music.
Read More...
The Robba - Album Review: In The Dark
29 Mar 2023 // by Hannah Jane
In The Dark is the new heavy rock album by New Zealand one man band The Robba, filled with hard-hitting tracks all painstakingly created by himself. Layers of guitar, vocals, synths and beats form a strong foundation for the social narrative woven into this baker’s dozen of lyrical laments.
Read More...
View All Articles By Hannah Jane

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