RECOMMENDED RECORD: Riki Pirihi and Abigail Aroha Jensen: Tūpiki (Audio Foundation/digital outlets)

From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this reissue which comes in a gatefold sleeve by artist Susan Te Kahurangi-King, with a download code and with an insert sheet which outlines the steps of Maui and how these performers pulled them together into the concept..

Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . .

. 

This ambitious and utterly absorbing album exists at the interface of concept album, spiritual exploration, cultural signifier and atmospheric experimentalism.

And all are in subtle balance.

Multi-instrumentalist Jensen on taonga pūoro, bells, gongs and electronics (among other things) and percussion player Pirihi (AKA Riki Gooch, also on selected taonga pūoro) recorded this during a residency at the Audio Foundation in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland with live electronic manipulations by Matt Gunn.

So there is an organic, evolving nature to the work which stretches across 12 distinct pieces (each 3.33 long), each one reflecting the steps Maui climbed to collect the baskets of knowledge.

From the opening sounds which convey bird song, the bush and the temporal world the music and inventive sound manipulations invoke and evoke spiritual states of being which can be calming (the rhythmic cycling of Rangi-parauri, healing), trance-inducing like Indonesian gamelan (Rangi-tauru-nui which closes the first side of the vinyl) or assertive (the vigorous percussion-driven Rangi-matawai).

Rangi-te-wawana brings in a lengthy sample of a Maori choir with Pirihi's sensitive drumming.

This is an album to immerse yourself in and allow these ancient and modern sounds to give you pause to reflect on the story being told (which you may need to look up but it's worth the small effort).

We recommend this on vinyl because it comes in a gatefold sleeve by Susan Te Kahurangi-King, a download code and with an insert sheet which outlines the steps of Maui and how these performers pulled them together into the concept.

.

You can hear and buy this album digitally and on vinyl at bandcamp here