Bio

An indie-folk artist, New Zealand-American songwriter Colette Rivers brings together an eclectic mix of guitars, drums, folk instruments and synths to create music that is both uplifting and melancholic.

Rivers’ voice shivers with the raw expressiveness of greats like Bruce Springsteen or Stevie Nicks coupled with a high, litling range similar to Joni Mitchell or Joan Baez. When she opens up, she's a powerhouse.

Enter EP Wandering Thoughts - a 4 track release featuring Rivers’ latest single Kamikaze Girlfriend written about the twisted ways people can give all to love. It was written and recorded/ produced in Rivers’ home studio in the Wairarapa, NZ, just outside of the capital, Wellington.

Mastering was provided by Mike Gibson at Munki Studios in Wellington.

“I tend to write the key parts to a song pretty quickly as they come to me fairly instantaneously. I spend quite a lot of time in the production phase where I am creating the more intricate parts of songs,” reflects Rivers.

“I don't necessarily think about how I want it to sound, I just start writing and the sound comes out of it on it's own. I know that's an unsatisfying answer really, but I don't have a methodology to song-writing. It's more like answering an urge.... and not letting myself get in the way of it,” says Rivers.

Inspired by nature in its many forms, her upcoming debut album, Memory Lake, is aptly named after the great Lake Taupo where she lived after moving with her family from Washington state at age 11.

She's been playing music from an early age and writing songs from about 13. "I think the first songs were written on the piano as I only really started learning guitar when I was 14."

Having lived outside New Zealand, in the USA and United Kingdom, Rivers says coming ‘home’ is a grounding experience. “sitting, looking at the lake (Taupo), breathing in the damp kiwi bush and eucalyptus trees, there is something intangible, filled with memories. I need to be near water.”

There is an undeniable sense of strong melodic hook-writing, as featured in the haunting and sometimes gritty melodies of Quiet Places, Out of the Cage and Fickle Soul. The honesty, poeticism and depth of Rivers' lyrics reflect a fearlessness in revisiting the past, feeling the moments of the right now, considering life, death and the beauty, pain and reality of it.

Links

• Artist Website
• Facebook Page
• Youtube Page
• Instagram Page
• SoundCloud Page
• Spotify Page
• Apple Music Page