Yumi Zouma and Doprah, New Zealand's premier dream/trip-pop outfits, are touring together this month, gracing the Re:Fuel stage next week for a blissed out night of synth excursions, heavenly textures and strong pop songwriting.
Yumi Zouma is currently preparing for the release of its debut album Yoncalla (due May 27), the group's first release that hasn't been limited by the distance between the bandmates' hometowns of Paris, New York and Auckland.
Yoncalla is just as soaring and gorgeous as the group's previous EPs: whispering vocals topping often delicate humid songs wrapped in nostalgia.
Listen to it at night, and it's just perfect.
Doprah, meanwhile, is fresh from its worth-the-wait debut of dark psychotropic trip-pop.
The bands will be supported by newcomers SoccerPractise, which has so far issued two absolutely killer singles.
A night of lushness.
SILENCE SHATTERED
Dunedin Public Library will tomorrow host the Nook & Cranny Music Festival, an all-day celebration of the start of New Zealand Music Month.
"The DPL, Strawberry Sound and Dunedinmusic.com have been hosting music month shows for many years now,'' event co-ordinator and musician Brendan Christie said via email.
"This year Kay Mercer, who co-ordinates events at the DPL, suggested we do a larger event to celebrate the beginning with fewer following events, which would require less commitment from volunteers such as myself. I happened to be watching several 'NPR Tiny Desk Concerts' on YouTube at the time, which gave me the inspiration for a festival such as this.
"I love the library because it's a quiet area, where musicians will [hopefully] be competing with very little ambient noise, something that is not very common to a musician's usual performance spaces such as bars etc.''
The festival will see music played all over the library: on stages, in nooks and crannies and among the bookstacks.
"Originally it was supposed to be more of a 'free for all', but I decided that we needed to structure it more carefully to avoid music ‘bleeding' into other performances,'' Christie said.
"The performers are given an area and performance time of no longer than 20 minutes. The library will have 10 areas where a performer can set up and perform, but the structure ends there. The areas are quite large and flexible.
"How and where they perform in that area is completely down to the artists. They can set up between bookstacks, on top of desks, wherever might inspire them to be creative and original.''
Alongside the huge daytime festival, the team has also put together weekly Thursday night showcases, featuring some of the artists performing at Nook & Cranny as well as some new acts, which will run throughout the month.
The gigs
• Doprah and Yumi Zouma with SoccerPractise, Thursday, May 5, Re:Fuel, Dunedin. Presales available from undertheradar.co.nz. Doors from 8pm.
• The Nook & Cranny Music Festival, a celebration of New Zealand Music Month. Sunday, May 1, Dunedin Pubic Library, featuring performances by OWLS, Concrete Grady, Terrified, Molly Devine, Haszari, Nick Knox, The Mentalist Collective, Boaz Anema, Brandon Wyatt, Erlking, Holly McPhee, Vices, High Twitch Athletic Club, James Dignan, Rowan Latton, Paul S. Allen, Catgut & Steel, Valley Bluegrass, Hana Fahy, The Flukes, Sideline, Lara Rose Robertson, Spinster, Abe Baillie, Robert Scott, Dave Coleclough, Ronnie Stash, Barabajagal, DJ Fadez, Sea Fog, Tiny Pieces of Eight, Abby Wolfe, Matt Langley, The Phil Corfield Band, Elle, Nicholas Zawadski, Darryl Baser, Jae Bedford, The Prophet Hens, Bill Martin Trio, Lani Alo, The Generators and The Intersectionists. 11am-4pm. Free entry. All ages.
