Wellington musician Estère Dalton has just released the first single from her forthcoming album. She played it for us live at Blue Barn studios in Wellington and had a chat with Gussie Larkin.
Estère has built a following over the last five years for her impeccable, lively one-woman-and-her-MPC shows.
She's just released the first single 'Pro Bono Techno Zone' from her forthcoming album, and she played it for us live at Blue Barn studios, this time with a real band filling out her sound.
"It's really invigorating - I'm so used to playing by myself. With this setup, it's almost like adding electricity into the dynamics," says Estère.
She’s releasing an album in two parts - one this October and the other in March. Estère and her bandmembers Olivia Campion and Jordan Gray are preparing for shows this coming weekend at their studio/rehearsal space Blue Barn Studios in Wellington's Mt Cook.
Estere MPC Photo: Ezra Simons/Gussie Larkin/RNZ
She says that some of the new subject matter is "more earnest" than her previous work. "At the same time, I have a love of drums, and upbeat bass, and that exciting pulsating. The music is still quite peppy.
"'Pro Bono Techno Zone' is about kids just being obsessed with technology and existing within this zone that's like completely technology driven." It's about the hidden price we pay for something we're getting mostly for free.
"I think with Children, it's more visceral - like, you see it happening, you see it in their eyes. They've got this glazed look on their faces, and I think adults are the same, but because children are such blank slates, I think it's a really powerful manifestation of how that world is encroaching.
"There's definitely some repercussions that we don't know about, because we're not the technological generation."
The second song in this set also deals with a 21st Century issue, though Estère points out that it's always happened.
"Nomads is a song about the idea of mass movement ... throughout the course of history these huge groups of people that have been forced to leave their homes for various reasons."
"It's a reflection on what it must feel like in terms of the unity of those people, but also the trauma of that experience."
Tour Diary: Estère in Africa
"This is really special for me, because this is the first time I've ever been to Africa, and my father is from here!" Estère Dalton tells a jubilant festival audience in Mozambique. Join the… Video, Audio, Gallery
