Source: Radio New Zealand
Partly written and recorded in Paris, Red Sunset may have found its thematic heart in that location. Runga’s new album sounds French and seemingly draws inspiration from thatcountry’s pop music of the ’60s and ’70s.
Or perhaps the acoustic strums, dampened drums and vintage synths here just coalesced into these particular forms. Certainly, they’re familiar elements for Runga and her co-writer Kody Nielson.
But with the advent of each circuitous melody and elaborate chord progression, the comparison feels more apt.
Runga spent three years in Paris during her mid-twenties, and told The Post she wanted to “bookend the parenthood years” by heading back and seeing it through her children’s eyes.
The trip unlocked something creatively, and she wrote and recorded parts of Red Sunset on a grand piano at an Airbnb where she and her family stayed.
Runga (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rongomaiwahine) was still in her teens when she released her debut single ‘Drive’, and it’s worth noting that on the three albums which followed – Drive (1997) Beautiful Collision (2002), and Birds (2005) – she wasn’t just the sole credited songwriter, but producer too.
That changed on 2011’s Belle, and its mostly-cover-songs follow-up Close Your Eyes, which both featured production from Runga’s partner Neilson (as does Red Sunset).
The former-Mint Chick member’s maximalist impulses were always an interesting pairing with her mellower inclinations, and here their collaboration feels effortless.
It’s the second half of Red Sunset that really evokes the era of Françoise Hardy and Serge Gainsbourg; the first flirts with more modern sounds, like the drum machine thump on ‘Paris in the Rain’ and synth adornments of the title track.
Crisp acoustic lead and pan pipe sounds on ‘Ghost in My Bed’ are the most specific nod back, but the track also contains a roaming synth bass connecting it to the present day.
These three were all singles and form a statement: Runga is trying new, unexpected things. It’s a thrilling start to the album, not to mention a brave move from an established artist.
On the Podcast Listen Carefully she said Red Sunset’s final two tracks ‘Hey Little One’ and ‘Home Run’ have existed in unfinished forms for many years. They’re both stunners, building to choruses which move in unexpected yet welcome directions, and feature spine-tingling vocal work.
There’s a hint of The Beatles on the nursery rhyme-esque ‘You’re Never Really Here (Are You Baby)’, and even more on the album’s most upbeat tune, ‘Won’t You Come Home’ and its dazzling web of harmonies.
What has emerged is fascinating; part tribute to a place she used to call home, part merging of older, familiar material with a new, more challenging direction. It’s an exciting release from someone who could have rested on her laurels but would prefer to keep moving forward.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
