Graham Reid | | 1 min read
Moments in Time
In New Zealand Music Month, magazines and sites like Elsewhere expect to be inundated with requests for reviews by artists who have decided to release their music at a time when everyone else has had exactly the same idea.
That seems pretty self-defeating but . . .
Artists with an established career or a point-of-difference invariably get the attention.
Sonic Delusion out of New Plymouth wouldn't seem to have much going for them in the heavyweight competition.
But wait!
Anything Goes is the fifth album by Sonic Delusion – yes, their 5th –and that right there is a point-of-difference.
SD is in fact just Andre Manella and he is a real self-starter, scene-maker and spoke eloquently about Regional Isolation at an industry event in Auckland last year about how to make things happen in your local area.
Being a one-man portable band he has played everywhere from Splore and Womad to local halls, parks, the New Plymouth library and RSAs.
And in Europe.
On this album he also makes shamelessly catchy, often up-beat summery pop over loops, a Caribbean vibe and an approachable electro-acoustic funk.
An early single off this album was the excellent Hey Trouble which has a snifter of world music about it but rides an excellent hook and groove.
This is What I Want To Do is a cleverly catchy lyric about you/him fulfilling your/himself, the persuasive Have You Ever says get out and see the world because we only have a short time here, the opening of the reflective I See Light is and affirmation about love and hope before bouncing off with a dance rhythm . . .
In a world cluttered with solo acoustic singer-songwriters aiming for the laidback beach mood, Sonic Delusion is funny, fresh and funky. And while he can be serious (Moments in Time), Swiss-Kiwi Manella doesn't take himself too seriously – check Mama Please – and his economic, enclosed songs are infectious.
Lotta introspective music around these days as artists go soul searching and look no further than inward.
Against all that melancholy and bedroom woe, Sonic Delusion is a welcome breath of entertainment, joy, fun and smiles. And that right there is a terrific point of difference.
As it says on Manella's record label: turn up the pop.
Check it out here.
ANYTHING GOES ALBUM RELEASE TOUR
08.05.2019 Arts on Wednesdays Massey University Palmerston North 12.30pm17.05.2019 Portland Public House Auckland 10pm - FREE ENTRY
18.05.2019 private function Raglan
31.05.2019 Brew Rotorua 8pm - FREE ENTRY
01.06.2019 Te Manawa Rotorua 11am - FREE ENTRY
01.06.2019 Our Place Tauranga 7pm - FREE ENTRY
02.06.2019 The Rising Tide Mount Manganui 1pm - FREE ENTRY
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