Various Artists
Arc: Music of Dunedin (Arclife, 135 High Street, Dunedin, New Zealand)
by Marc Hirsh
Various Artists
Arc: Music of Dunedin (Arclife, 135 High Street, Dunedin, New Zealand)
by Marc Hirsh
originally published in Space City Rock, Fall 1999
This album was probably last year's biggest surprise. Literally, since the CD showed up unannounced in my mailbox one day, the gift of a friend travelling in New Zealand. It was here that I first heard every single one of the "innovations" of R.E.M.'s Up, as performed by a fairly close-knit collective of South Island musicians. This is late-night music for when you want to make it to the dawn of the next morning (which is the difference between this and, say, Portishead): warm, mostly slow (despite the inclusion of the occasional ripper like Jetty's "White Boys On Punk"), half-electronic, hypnotic. Demarnia Lloyd is the one to watch for, with beautiful slow burns both solo and with Cloudboy (check out the molasses-textured opener, "Pretty"). Maximum bonus points for "Universe of Love," a tender and wide-eyed welcome to our world from Peter Gutteridge to his newborn baby. Perfect.