William Dart features two Wellington outfits with new releases: the klezmer band The Kugels, and the jacks and janets of all trades, Plan 9.
Plan 9: (from left) David Donaldson, Janet Roddick and Steve Roche Photo: supplied
Four years ago, the debut album by Ross Harris’s klezmer band, The Kugels, provided me with the perfect summertime soundtrack. So much so that I launched the 2017 season of New Horizons by pairing this release with the Jews Brothers’ Up in the Borscht Belt for a programme of Kiwi Klezmer.
Photo: The Kugels
One might be forgiven, perhaps, for having thought that that Kugels album would be a one-off charmer in the passing parade of our country’s music but the group has come up with a second album: its title, The Kugels at Breaker Bay reflecting the fact that it was mostly recorded at one of the capital’s most atmospheric alternative venues.
This is the sort of sound document that any musician would be proud to have their name on, thanks to the Atoll recording team of producer Wayne Laird and engineer John Neill.
Since that first Kugels album four years ago, the band has a new member in the person of Anna Gawn. Being a singer, this has enabled Ross Harris to write some striking settings of Yiddish poets such as Avrom Sutzkever, Rachel Korn, David Hofstein and Zisha Landau. In fact, these are the heart of the album and come across as particularly substantial alongside instrumental tracks which generally run from just under one minute to not a lot over two.
Anna Gawn takes us on quite a journey with the band; the slightly Schubertian strain of Harris’s music lending a resonance all of its own.
The Wellington collective Plan 9, consists of Janet Roddick, David Donaldson and Steve Roche. Releasing their work on their own Braille label, these musicians, along with various collaborators, have built a bridge of aural enchantment from one century into another.
Apart from original songs, performed by their bands, Four Volts and Six Volts, there’s also been a marvellous evening of Kurt Weill songs and let’s not forget Donaldson and Roche’s ultra-hip Labcoats ensemble. You might also have enjoyed them painting in musical backdrops for the likes of The Front Lawn, The Windy City Strugglers and quite a few film projects.
Now, Janet Roddick, David Donaldson and Steve Roche present us with The Bewilderness – a release which has achieved its own first for the trio by being one of the three finalists in this year’s SOUNZ Contemporary Award, alongside orchestral and chamber works by Neville Hall and Reuben Jellyman.
The Bewilderness is indeed music for the times in which we live, surveying the pressures and tensions of these Coronavirus times. It's a project undertaken with a freedom and self-governance that would be luxury in the world of film music and features a number of longish tracks, which I enjoyed feeling my way into, cherishing details before they fell into inevitable context.
Music Details
ARTIST: Madeleine Pierard, APO
TITLE: Symphony No 2
ALBUM: RNZ Live recording 2006
COMPOSER: Harris
LABEL: RNZ
ARTIST: Nathan Haines
TITLE: Symphony No 2 (reimagined)
ALBUM: Live recording at the 2006 Silver Scrolls
COMPOSER: Harris, Haines
LABEL: APRA, non-commercial, used with permission
ARTIST: Mahinaarangi Tocker
TITLE: These Blue Eyes
ALBUM: The Mongrel in Me
COMPOSER: Tocker
LABEL: Jayrem
ARTIST: The Kugels
TITLE: Kugelish
ALBUM: The Kugels Play Klezmer by Ross Harris
COMPOSER: Harris
LABEL: Atoll
ARTIST: The Kugels
TITLE: Pavloye Marche
ALBUM: The Kugels at Breaker Bay
COMPOSER: Harris
LABEL: Atoll
ARTIST: The Kugels
TITLE: Beregovsky 4
ALBUM: The Kugels at Breaker Bay
COMPOSER: Harris
LABEL: Atoll
ARTIST: The Kugels
TITLE: The Fiddler
ALBUM: The Kugels at Breaker Bay
COMPOSER: Harris, Sutskever
LABEL: Atoll
ARTIST: Plan 9
TITLE: Morning Report Theme
ALBUM: -
COMPOSER: Plan 9
LABEL: RNZ
ARTIST: Plan 9
TITLE: The Rush
ALBUM: The Bewilderness
COMPOSER: Plan 9
LABEL: Braille
ARTIST: Plan 9
TITLE: The Big Sea
ALBUM: The Bewilderness
COMPOSER: Plan 9
LABEL: Braille
ARTIST: Plan 9
TITLE: Rain
ALBUM: The Bewilderness
COMPOSER: Plan 9
LABEL: Braille
ARTIST: Plan 9
TITLE: By Far and Away
ALBUM: The Bewilderness
COMPOSER: Plan 9
LABEL: Braille
