Looking For Alaska & In The Shallows
19th August 2022
Paisley Stage, Napier, New Zealand.
Review by Rob Harbers. Photography by Chris Kiely.
In a match-up made, if not quite in heaven itself, then certainly somewhere adjacent, Kapiti’s In the Shallows and Kirikiriroa’s Looking for Alaska are touring venues across the motu between now and November. The second stop of the tour touched down at Napier’s coolest venue, Paisley Stage, and showed what an inspired idea this combination is. The inspiration for this pairing came from a music reviewer who shall remain nameless but the fact that it was followed up on shows the respect these guys pay to the printed word – so I best be careful here! No problem – when it’s this good there’s no need for any artifice to protect feelings.
First to enter the fray were In The Shallows, providing a set rich with harmony and heartfelt lyrics. Their musical tapestries are woven through with a golden thread of humanity – strongly relatable tales of identity and resilience, strength and fortitude. All delivered in a package so sweetly presented it belies some of the deeper and darker content within – reportedly causing a member of Looking for Alaska to lament having to follow a set of such happy songs (Happy, that is, unless you pay close attention to the lyrical content)! An understandable misunderstanding though, given Danni Parsons’ honey-sweet (but never cloying) vocals, strongly reminiscent of French For Rabbits’ Brooke Singer, counterpointed with Lance Shepherd’s harmonising, and largely understated instrumentation. Like a sweet with a slightly sour sherbet fizz at its core, it draws you in and then gives a little surprise! But you keep wanting to have more of them…
Too soon, though, (perhaps hastened, it was hinted at, by Danni’s excitability at seeing the following act) comes the set conclusion, with the semi-appropriately titled “Fade Away”. I say semi-appropriately because, while it is a fitting title for a closing number, this is not a performance that will fade in the memory for some time! A class act indeed, and a hard one to follow.
But Looking for Alaska rose admirably to the challenge, the couple (in music and in life) opening with a couple of brand new songs, each less than 48 hours of age, and each performed solo by a separate one of them. Keeping it real, indeed! About half of the songs featured the use of loops and layered sounds, employed with such aplomb that I was genuinely surprised, upon talking post-show with Amy, to learn that this is only their second gig to feature this innovation.
As mentioned above, this is a duo in music and in life, having bonded while both in music school and pursued a joint venture in art and love from then on. This makes for a strong on-stage chemistry that is truly charming to witness, the intimate audience encouraging Amy to ramble entertainingly across a wide range of subjects, and introduce one or two ‘Amy-isms’, as they’re referred to by husband Aaron, into the lingo. Topics of conversation ranged from leguminous disappointment as a youth, through the unavailability of merch due to over-active rodents, across daddy issues through to the effect of being descended from conflict. Some may churlishly call it over-sharing, I just find it adding to the overall charm!
Musically, they draw on a wide range of influences to create something uniquely their own, featuring soulful vocals, heartfelt expression and nicely textured sonic elements of guitar and drum. This soulful and heartfelt expression builds until it explodes out in main-set closers ‘Hine Atarau’ and ‘Lily’, both of which feature truly astounding and cathartic vocals from Amy, that out of nowhere reach out and slap the listener upside the head – she refers to these, quite aptly, as the “punch in the face” songs. ‘Lily’, in particular, drove her to tears, such was the deep well of emotion from which it was drawn! Quite affecting for this witness also, coming off the back of experiencing the intensity of Hollie Smith the night before – a nice way to end the week, feeling ever-so-slightly wrung-out by the power of vocal expression!
And wrung-out of words, too (and past deadline! Sorry ed!). Just see these guys – with another 12 or so dates still to play, covering almost all of Te-Ika-a-Maui, there’s not much excuse not to. Come ready to listen, appreciate and be (pleasantly) assailed by pure expression!
Were you there at Paisley Stage for this intimate performance? Or have you seen Looking For Alaska or In The Shallows perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
In The Shallows Set List:
- Who were you before
- Hold On
- Let’s not Start a war
- Wicked game
- Not the one
- Waiting for the Sun
- Bright Lights
- There you are
- Let it go
- Firefly
- Here we go again
- Fade away
Looking For Alaska Set List:
- Losing Race
- Pieces of you, pieces of me
- Love isn’t real
- In the backseat
- Anxiety
- Whole again
- All the broken people
- Hine Atarau
- Lily
- You only see me
Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only.
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