MASSIVE’s Music recs
Auckland rec: MACEY
Star lyric: “Think I’ll avoid the streets, stay indoors and have my cake. Live vicariously, or play pretend like Fin and Jake.”
Auckland’s MACEY, also known as Harry Parsons, released his debut album ‘THE LOVERS’ earlier this month.
MACEY album invites you into his world of rawness, reminiscent of artists like Joni Mitchel, Jeff Buckley, The 1975, Bruce Springsteen and The War on Drugs.
He said, "The album is a window into my experience of love and loss, in chronological order from my first big break up of 6 years and the death of my father and all the trials, highs and lows that came after.
“It’s basically an autobiography of growth and trying to figure things out.”
He found writing the new song “Drugs” was particularly scary and vulnerable.
“It kinda airs out my most messy period … substances and an unhealthy relationship post break up. Something that I found hard to admit to myself and accept as a part of my story.”
He said changing his stage name to MACEY came about in the midst of one of the hardest periods of his life, during the death of his dad and the end of a long relationship.
“It helped me channel a lot of the shit into art and something other than myself.”
He had found it tricky to navigate how cliquey the New Zealand music industry can sometimes feel, “because everyone knows everyone and there aren’t big enough followings for more niche music”.
However, he liked how people in the industry were chill, “once you get past the fear of being ‘too much’ or ‘not cool enough’, you realize everyone is just trying to create and share and help”.
He loved performing for students for their energy and love for experiencing the moment, “Hope I don’t lose that as I get older.”
Palmerston North rec: Synthetic Children
Palmerston North’s Synthetic Children released their 3rd album ‘Everything’s Perpetual’ in July, and an Aotearoa produced remix is coming out on October 5th on Bandcamp and streaming later.
Synthetic Children is a Te Papaioea based, hardware electronics project, a 2-stepping soundtrack to being trans on the dark, wide streets of Palmerston North.
It’s a mix of ambient, dubstep, post-jungle, techno, and footwork, with a penchant for unsettling queer sonics.
The only song on the album with lyrics is “Body”, as Synthetic Children felt sonics could say evermore more succinctly than words.
They said their music is “firmly DIY”.
“The only industry I know is my local scene and small pockets of other queer artists across Aotearoa.”
They said organising everything themselves and running a pretty bare-bones rig makes it so fun and rewarding.
They said as a trans person, it can be difficult to be vulnerable about this in their music.
“Music is a way for me to express these parts of me that are otherwise veiled in dissociation and masking”.
“Overall, it’s still very cathartic to be sharing this music, but it is a frequently stressful thing to play live shows, and to be hypervigilant of how people are perceiving me”.
Wellington Rec: Bleach
Star lyric: “Thought I’d walked astray ‘cause getting by is all I'm used to now.”
Wellington’s alt-rock trio Bleach released its debut single ‘Superdown’ last Friday, and are working on their five-track EP.
David, Christian and Jacob create a fierce energy and evocative sound in their music.
David said as Bleach works on their EP, the band deep dives into discographies of the rare artists all three of them think are incredible.
“The music I gravitate toward is stuff that makes me feel understood. Sometimes a lyric or song hits you in just the right way. We aim to write music that does exactly that”.
Bleach’s new single personifies an unrelenting feeling of sadness, but listeners can look forward to a variety of emotions in their upcoming EP.
The EP navigates everything from brotherhood and camaraderie to love, loss and betrayal, weaving together both fictional and real experiences.
David said, “Ultimately, we want the EP to be a reflection of the time we’ve spent living in Wellington over the last couple of years, more so than simply being written over that time.”
“The melodies and stories are just as poignant and just as telling.”
Drummer Jacob said the trio has struggled to find gigs in the capital and wait times can be disheartening, “but persistence is key!”
Jacob was heavily inspired by the powerful and pure grooves of drummers like Ilan Rubin (Nine Inch Nails) and Matt Johnson (Jeff Buckley’s drummer), alongside the intricate rhythms of bands such as Radiohead and LCD Soundsystem.
