25 Aug 2016

Eva Prowse - Humid Nights

From RNZ Music, 1:00 pm on 25 August 2016
Eva Prowse

Eva Prowse Photo: RNZ Kirsten Johnstone

Wellington songwriter Eva Prowse has made a move from violin infused country folk to midi driven synth pop with her latest album Humid Nights. Kirsten Johnstone gets the stories behind the songs.

Humid Nights

"That one is about a night we had on the Long Island Iced Tea buckets in Cambodia. Crazy night. I drank far too much and had a fantastic fight with my boyfriend at the time. The night ended with me yelling 'get in that effing tuk-tuk' really loudly in the middle of the street. The next day was a bit rough."

20th Century

"That's about traveling through Russia. We had this beautiful sweet little tour guide, who took us around all the churches and told us stories about Tsars and Tsarinas, and I was kinda like 'yeah but I wanna hear about Stalin! I wanna know where the KGB building was!' but they skipped over that whole period - a.k.a. the 20th Century."

Eva Prowse Cover Humid Nights

Eva Prowse Cover Humid Nights Photo: supplied

"This is a big nod to The Spice Girls. They're my favourite band of all time. I wouldn't say they're the best band of all time, but definitely my favourite. I have four best friends, that I have since we were four. So 26 years. And we used to dress up as The Spice Girls - I was Baby Spice - and we've got hordes of photos, and we did all the dances. I think that has a lot to do with why I love The Spice Girls. And also I love pop music! If we're honest, the songs, you know, they're not the greatest. I went back to things like Madonna and Kate Bush and Cyndi Lauper."

No Man

"This is inspired by Game Of Thrones. It's about all the kick-arse female characters."

Click on the audio link above for more about how the album was made, and why the shift in style.

Humid Nights is out on Friday August 26th, and available here.

Eva Prowse midi sessions

Eva Prowse's MIDI sessions. Photo: supplied

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