#ash shields

𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐬𝐡

i'm behind on a lot of posts, and i can't remember if i've talked about these two on here before (i really should have)

first, go cue up their freshly-released ep.

they're a duo from auckland, and i first met them a few months back when i interviewed them for an article. alex, the vocalist, does folky stuff as a solo act, and patrick, the producer, does some pretty great soundtrack-y sorts of things. as a duo, they work with electronic stuff and dubstep, but they keep both their solo elements in the work, and it's wonderful.

when i met them, they were planning the ep release show. the way they did all this is really interesting - they hadn't played a single show, and didn't intend to until the release. they had been releasing tracks all year, and had kept their fans tantalisingly hooked with photos and things from film shoots, practices, et cetera. it seems to have worked really well for them, because they packed galatos basement when the release came around.

the ep opens with 'not so frightening', the intro to which sort of leads you into thinking it's going to be sort of chamber folky. it's soft and filled with piano, when all of a sudden the electronics come in and the dubstep influence is immediately apparent. the two hadn't listened to dubstep before they started work on ophelia, and i love that, because it enables them to take the parts of the genre they like and will fit best for what they want to do. there are fantastic drops and some great tones, parts of it are really bassy, and most of all (in my opinion, at least) there are no screeching and whirring synth tones over the top, something that's driven me away from a lot of dubstep over the years.

alex's songwriting really comes into play as the ep progresses, because the two avoid the trope of using an overly-catchy and repetitive vocal sample as a chorus (and verse and bridge and on and on...) instead, it's like she's writing for one of her folk songs. all the tracks have narrative elements (i'm doing my absolute very best not to just rewrite the article here, trust me) and it's a refreshing approach. very ellie goulding (a comparison the two are pleased with).

the night of the release was stellar. they had been preparing for months, getting lighting and an av system all sorted - and it was worth it, it really was. it made for an experience that will have left an impression (in fact, i heard people talking about the show literally the next day). randa opened for them - a good choice, i think, fitting in with the aesthetic of ophelia ('the alternative to the norm', in a way, perhaps. i don't know, i'm very low on sleep).

in any case, it was a night to remember, and i'm so glad i got to go along. i know they're planning (or at the very have hopes) to tour over the next year, so if you get a chance, do go check them out. and tell them i say hi.

i love bus trips. i don't know why. before, i thought it was because of the night journey (i had only ever taken the 11h trip overnight). this time, i travelled during the day, and i loved it just as much. i was exhausted and greasy and disgusting by the end, but i still loved it.

i think it's the people. i don't really talk to people on the trips - i know many who do, but i don't. not necessarily out of choice, but i like to think it's partially of my own accord. but no, it's not the conversation, it's just looking at people, watching them, and figuring out their stories, or coming up with their stories in my head or on paper.

yesterday, i watched a tearful teenaged girl say goodbye to someone i presume was her boyfriend. i wrote two pages about it, speculating as to who they were. i talked briefly to someone who sat next to me after a transfer from napier. she had family in germany, and was here to sort out a storage crate full of her mother's things, throwing and selling some things and sending the rest off to the ivory coast. she was either going to stay in wellington for a few weeks or go down to invercargill, i'm not sure what for.

the point is, even though it's an 11+ hour journey and if you're travelling in the day it's pretty much an entire day gone down the drain, it's worth it. well, i love it. the view and the people and the feeling of actually going somewhere make it all worth it for me.

so now i'm sitting in renee's apartment on cuba street, right down the road from the san fran bathhouse where amanda's playing tonight, listening to a live recording of a melbourne punk cab artist i haven't listened to in ages, typing this while renee's cat is enjoying being in the way.

i love being here.

i went walking earlier this morning in search of breakfast, and found a place that did a pretty alright $10 big breakfast. now, i'm settling down to start working on the huge load of writing i have to do over the next 12 days, all of which i am extremely grateful for.

but, there i go again, losing my train of thought. i swear i had some aim to this post, but it's been lost, so i'll leave it here.