all that jazz The New Loungeheads

Rip It Up, Issue 241, 1 September 1997, Page 9

all that jazz The New Loungeheads

For a couple of years now, the New Lounge Head’s blend of cafejazz SUAVE AND DANCE GROOVES HAS BEEN A CONSTANT PRESENCE ON the Auckland live scene. Their rhythm-steered instrumental APPROACH HAS SEEN THEM DRAW ELEMENTS OF THE ROCK AND DANCE CROWDS, WHO WOULD NOT NORMALLY BE INTERESTED IN WHAT IS PREDOMINANTLY A JAZZ BAND, TO THEIR SHOWS.

Last month, their first single, ‘Cloth’ (featuring Deepgrooves labelmate Sulata on guest vocals), appeared, and now the quintet are poised to release their self-produced album, came a weird way. Like the single, it may confound expectations and surprise quite a few members of their live audience.

“We didn’t want people to listen to the album in the way they would live”, says drummer Isaac Tucker. Guitarist and co-founding member Dan Sperber agrees. “An album should take you somewhere different than a live show. Live, we’ve had big production — lots of dubbing, with big sound systems, but the album is the songs in a naked, slightly rawer form.” Although Tucker explains that there is a chance that the album may still cross over into the live domain. “One reason we kept it bare was the possibility of remixing it. Keep it as simple and non-effects ridden as possible, so it’s totally stripped, and ready for Djs to restructure.”

The New Lounge Head’s music has already proved quite versatile and open to interpretation. ‘Cloth’ was a song that had been played live for awhile before Sperber wrote lyrics, and brought Sulata in to sing on it. Perhaps that was a good move, as presumably it’s quite difficult in New Zealand to release an instrumental single. “It wasn’t that cynical but there was an element of that. It’s fine for people who are switched on about your music, but as for Joe Egg out in [suburbia], how often are you gonna meet those people? In order to breach those boundaries, [Sulata’s vocals are] something to allow people to connect with the music a bit better. “We have been conscious of having songs on the album, not just instrumental workouts. And arrangement wise, it’s quite poppy.” This album should also finally lay to rest the ‘acid jazz’ tag the band have been previously unable to shake, says Sperber. “Most of that stuff is just so sexless and white. Once you reintroduce rhythms, and different directions, it appeals to more to people’s ears.”

TROY FERGUSON