STACK NZ APril 2016 Issue 72

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T here’s a relaxed, live-sounding vibe to
Water Or Gold, Hollie Smith’s eagerly
awaited follow-up to her 2010 sophomore
set Humour And The Misfortune Of Others. It’s a
remarkable achievement, not the least because
there was not a lot that was either relaxed or live
about the making of the record.
“It was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle,” Smith tells
STACK from the offices of her record company in
Auckland. “The core recordings – bass, drums and
keyboards – were done down in Wellington at my
drummer’s house in his little home studio there.
And then we had a couple of extra musicians do a
couple of sessions at their own places, and then I
did all my vocals at home. So by the time we got
to NewYork, I had never really heard it all put back
together again.”
And just to make things that little bit harder, she
adds that everything that could have gone wrong
in her studio did; while she did not end up losing
anything, she admits it was a close run thing –
near the end, she was sprinting to record parts
and keeping her fingers crossed that they would
turn out OK.
She needn’t have worried: Water Or Gold is a
rootsy, soulful slice of R&B that also finds Smith
really rocking out on a number of songs. It’s a
triumphant return for one of New Zealand’s
most talented and powerful vocalists, who
first came to fame in 2006 with the hit single
Bathe In The River (taken from the movie
No. 2). Her debut album Long Player was
a double platinum-selling smash, although
its success was soured by a costly dispute
with Blue Note Records over its international
release.
She bounced back in 2010 with the
aforementioned Humour And The Misfortune Of
Others and since then she has kept busy with
her Band Of Brothers collaboration with Mara TK
in 2011, and Peace Of Mind, the 2013 release
which saw her team up with fellow iconic singer-
songwriters Anika Moa and Boh Runga.
While Water Or Gold is much
more a solo effort – she also
produces for the first time –
Smith is full of praise for the
musicians who played on it
(“We bounced ideas off each
old school. Whereas this was the first time I have
done the home studio thing, so going to NewYork
was great because they have some really great
gear, and that transformed the whole album.”
Although rooted in soul/R&B, first single Lead
The Way is an out and out rocker, while the title
track faintly recalls the guitar-heavy grooves
of early Funkadelic. Smith acknowledges the
funk influences, but believes there a number of
different elements running through the album,
with each musician bringing their own flavours to
the record.
“I think the big difference with this record is
that I wrote most of it on guitar, so there are a
couple of songs that are definitely more riff-based.
It’s more simplistic; when I write on keys, I do a
lot more chord movements and there is a lot more
room for me to move vocally, whereas this is more
back to basics.”
Water Or Gold is not without its heartbreak
and includes the moving Helena, her tribute to
her close friend and media personality Helena
McAlpine, who died in 2015 after a long battle
with breast cancer (she got to hear the recorded
version just before she passed.) However the tone
of the album leans more toward the upbeat – so is
she in a happier frame of mind these days?
“With music, I am a little less in my own
bubble, a little less precious,” Smith replies. “It’s
also good to add a little bit more energetic stuff
to the live set. I’ve always been known for
doing the slow, ballad-y shows, so it’s quite
nice to have a bit of a rock out because I have
never really been able to that. But the one
thing I enjoy about this record is that every
song is completely different. It’s quite cohesive
but really different.”
other quite a bit”), including for Kiwi expat Aaron
Nevezie (The Black Keys, Danger Mouse), who
mixed the album with her at his NewYork studio.
“That’s why I decided to do it in NewYork:
because there was so much to be done in the
post-production,” she says. “Normally I would be
in a live studio and everything would be recorded
as we wanted to hear it; a lot more organic and
New Zealand songstress Hollie Smith returns this month with her highly anticipated
third solo album Water Or Gold. She tells John Ferguson the recording process didn’t
go quite as smoothly as the finished product might suggest.
LEADING THE WAY
I am a little less in
my own bubble, a
little less precious
visit MUSIC REVIEWS
20 APRIL 2016
MUSIC
Water Or Gold
by Hollie Smith is
out April 1.