SANDRA SELL SANDRA BELL

Rip It Up, Issue 187, 1 February 1993, Page 6

SANDRA SELL SANDRA BELL

While the likes of Jenny Morris, Jan Hellriegel and Annie Crummer have been saturating local charts and media lately, a Dunedin singer/ songwriter has quietly recorded a stunning debut album, inked a world-wide distribution deal with a Belgium label and regularly finds herself reading rave reviews of that album in fanzines from all over the world. Sandra Bell is the first woman solo artist to boast an album

length release on Xpressway and Dreams of Falling has only concreted the label's impressive international reputation. A mainstay in Auckland's alternative scene in the mid-eighties, which included Fetus Productions and Marie and the Atom, Sandra's record debut was the Blackbirds EP.

"That was on the Volcanic Productions label, the first and only release. It was a feminist label which unfortunately bombed after me," she says ruefully. A 1987 migration to Dunedin and she indulged in her other passion, poetry, with a dab of music and an intensive period of songwriting. The song 'lndustrial Night' was put to Peter Jefferies, whose subsequent enthusiasm led to his offer to re-record and produce Sandra's stockpile of songs. Kicking off the project towards the end of 1990, the "very much part-time" recording was spread over most of the following year. The result is a 12-track treat brimming with delectable original sounds. Sandra is more than capably assisted by an array of fine musicians: David Mitchell, Kathy Bull and Peter Jefferies to name a few. But the real stars of Dreams of Falling are the songs, often

intense, more often than not very personal. "Songs are exorcisms, getting out things that you're not able to say to people or feelings that you can't express or they may be too dangerous or too intense to say to the person," says Sandra. She uses writing as an emotional outlet that would otherwise come in the form of "probably smashing things up. But it's not only the end product, but the actual process of doing it. It's such a wonderful process, like connecting into some force that's greater than yourself. To me, it's a very lovely, lovely feeling and one that makes me feel good about myself." Originally an Xpressway cassette, Dreams of Falling has been licensed to Belgium's Turbulance Records who have distributed it in both vinyl and CD throughout Europe and the United States. Yet in

New Zealand Sandra is relatively unknown. She acknowledges that that's self-inflicted.

"You can push and make opportunities for yourself, the main thing I want to do is just make music and play it. I wouldn't like to get caught up in that trip and trap that involves so much money and the mass media. It's nice to be allowed to be yourself and do your own thing. And when you're a woman, you have to be so careful because certain people do want to exploit parts of that sexual thing. I guess for any woman in the industry, you have to be aware of it." Are there advantages?

"Yes, people are interested in women and what they've got to say."

Live appearances as a musician have been rare until recently when her enthusiasm for gigs has stepped up, and Sandra has taken a liking to the idea of a band. It seems the solo trip is in — David Kilgour, Peter Jefferies, for example — so why a band now? "Just for the fun of it. Also, all throughout my career I've been playing by myself. I came from a small town [Taupo] doing what noone else was doing. There wasn't any one I could relate to, so I went out and did my thing right from the beginning and it's just continued on. So a band would be fun. And," she continues with rising momentum, "to actually create songs with people. To actually write them together, just for something different."

"Something different" is definitely Sandra Bell, and although she probably won't be coming to your town for a while, rest assured the major showcase for her talent is nearby — and it's on vinyl.

NATASHA GRIFFITHS