Live Review: Music To Isolate To: NGAIIRE

With the ongoing and ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a crazy world out there right now, so it’s never been more important to band together. Self-isolation and social distancing are two of the most effective tools we have as a society to help fight COVID-19, but they’re also very difficult to undertake and they have very real, long-lasting consequences on the music and arts industries — some of which we aren’t even aware of yet. Our artists and our industry are already feeling the ripple effect, and things are only going to get worse before they get better.

Because of this, it’s up to us to use what we’ve got at our disposal to best represent and amplify our community and continue to tell artists’ stories. Purple Sneakers has always fiercely represented Australian music and our team are some of the best writers in the country, so we’re going to use our platform to continue doing what we do best: connect our community with the artists we love, and support artists by promoting their incredible music.

Music To Isolate To is an ongoing artist-curated playlist series by Purple Sneakers. We’ve asked some of our favourite artists ever to provide us with the ten songs they’re listening to while in isolation, and provide some commentary for their selections. We’ll be running these for the foreseeable future every Monday and Thursday, and you can follow the Spotify playlist which will be updated on these days right HERE. The idea is to not only promote artists who are curating the playlists, but to also promote those songs that mean a lot to them whether they be longtime classics or fresh new releases.

The next in our Music To Isolate To series is the incredible NGAIIRE. Possessing one of the finest voices we've ever heard, NGAIIRE has been delivering beautiful, soulful music for a decade now and with each and every release, she infuses her own experience with her lyrical prowess to wholly and completely invite you into her world. Paired with detailed and textured production, she plays with her vocals to add even more emotional depth, flexing her stunning voice in its many forms from deep tones to soaring falsetto. From her debut record in 2013 with Lamentations, to her 2016 second album Blastoma, she is adored by critics and fans alike and now she's set to do that all again with a third album on the way. The first taste we've had from this came earlier this year in 'Boom', which NGAIIRE said is "about the memories I have growing up in PNG as a girl of my cousins and young Aunties & Uncles and their relationship with dating and sex." A slick RnB cut that she wrote and produced alongside MOOKHI and JACK GRACE, it focuses on "the glutton of sex and adultery and the debauchery that comes with sexual suppression and colonisation," and is all the proof you need that the wait for more music from NGAIIRE is absolutely going to be worth it.

For her playlist takeover, she's taken us through some of her go to picks for isolation with some hilarious and insightful commentary. Take a look below!

The Moment - Tame Impala

Oi, no swiping today mates. No casual sex, no casual covi. This is what I feel would be playing on my first bang after isolation. 100% mayhem (If I was single lol).

Switch Off - Milan Ring

Love this girl. Listen to this the minute you wake up to remember to switch off the internet. Say no to anxiety. Fuck. That. Shit. Right In the face.

Downstate - Jack Grace

I imagine you can really get the full effect of this insane track while your fingers are knuckle deep in soil, with some headphones, building your emergency balcony veggie patch. Warning: might make you cry into your seedlings.

Flamenco - Paul Mac

My uncle made this. This is some of his best work. Listen to it when you’re working on that art project you never got time to do pre-isolation.

Feverbreak - Odette / Hermitude

Don’t do anything when you listen to this. This is your audiobook. This is what Odette is to me. The most luxurious audiobook. You should feel privileged that you get to have her in your home during this time.

Georgia’s Track - Tiana Khasi

You need a cooking song. Something that sets the mood, not invasive but still present enough like seasoning. Something you’ll keep coming back to. Even if you’re having canned tuna and a piece of lettuce. Make it classy this pandemic season. X

Delivery - Chela

Invent a new dance in your lounge room. Let loose. Interpretive dancing absolutely welcome. Naked with your lunch out maybe. Record it on your iPhone, upload it immediately to YouTube and invite other lonely isolators to do the same. Then tag Chela because she amazing.

Clouds & Rain - Buoy

If you have a window in your house and a tree nearby. Play this when there’s wind, and the leaves are falling. Pure aesthetic pleasure.

Rabbit Hole - Jaguar Jonze

Do the dishes. Then break all your plates on your floor like a lord(e). Hopefully your floors are tiled for maximum breakage. There’s no other way to listen to this.

Miracle Love - Matt Corby

After your first bottle of wine when you’re totally in your feelings and want to text your ex to see how their isolation is going. I give you, Australia’s blue-eyed darling (or are they green?)

Introduction by Emma Jones

Image: Supplied

LISTEN TO MORE MUSIC TO ISOLATE TO HERE

SEE ALSO

MUSIC TO ISOLATE TO: ALI BARTER

MUSIC TO ISOLATE TO: VERA BLUE

MUSIC TO ISOLATE TO: CLEA