BIGSOUND Live 2015 Feature Artist - NGAIIRE

It's almost that time of year once more, when Brisbane's Fortitude Valley is overrun by over one hundred incredible music artists that are ready to knock your socks off. Or hat. There seems to be that thing happening again where people are wearing hats at night time and in doors like it's a thing you should be doing. The time of year we're talking about is BIGSOUND time of course! And this year's BIGSOUND Live line-up has got us feeling gooood about life and causing some first world problems in the vein of who we should be seeing. There's just too many acts we'd love to see! When can you see all these acts? Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10 of September. Where can you get tickets and find out who's playing, when and where? Here! And where can you read some QandA's with awesome BIGSOUND Live acts like NGAIIRE? Here. Enjoy!

NGAIIRE

Performing as part of BIGSOUND Live 2015

Wednesday 9 September - 11:20pm @ The Foundry

NGAIIRE! Welcome to It’s My Kind of Scene. How are you on this fine day?

Ngaiire: This whiskey old fashion would say that I’m pretty damn good.

Do tell… what music have you been loving in 2015?

Ngaiire: So much. I’ve actually been getting into a bit of country music as of late! They’re such great lyricists. Dolly Parton hello. I’ve also just fallen in love with Nathaniel Rateliff who just tore a new one on Jimmy Fallon. Johnny Albino a Puerto Rican bolero singer from the 40s I listen to sometimes when I’m working or when I want to feel like it’s not winter. Aretha Franklin never leaves me, Kwabs, a wonderful singer from the UK who played on our stage at Glastonbury who’s now featuring on the new Disclosure album, Bjork’s "Vulcinura" is the best break up album I’ve ever heard and I finally managed to check out St Vincent and David Byrne’s "Love This Giant" for the first time this year. So big. Jill Scott’s album is a bit of a cocktail that doesn’t know what it is but I dig it and then there are my staples; Frank Ocean, Beyonce, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway etc.

You’re going to be bringing the NGAIIRE live experience to BIGSOUND Live on September 9 when you headline The Foundry line up for the night. What drew you to showcasing your work at BIGSOUND?

Ngaiire: I’ve always wanted to play BIGSOUND – it’s a rite of passage to where people starting to pay attention to you. You don’t really have too many options to showcase your stuff in Australia  – BIGSOUND and AWME, really - so I’ve worked hard to try to get on in one way or the other and am stoked to be playing both this year.

Showcase sets for each act run for half an hour. You have a short space of time to play for people who may not know you or your material well. So, how have you decided on which songs to play?

Ngaiire: Killers no fillers, basically. That seems like such a non-Aussie, anti-tall-poppy-syndrome thing to say.

BIGSOUND Live is a whole lot of fun for those in attendance. If you get a chance to run around The Valley and check out some of the other artists, who are you going to see?

Ngaiire: Buoy. I’m friends with Charms, who’s the lead singer, and Jack who plays keys with her is my producer. I’ve heard nothing but spectacular things about her new outfit so I finally will get to see her.

Following BIGSOUND Live, you’ve got your sophomore album “Blastoma” due for release! How excited are you to get the album out into the world?

Ngaiire: Oh man. Will you help me get this baby out of me already?! I’ve spent nearly 2 years on it
and so much has happened in that period. The way ‘Once’ has a been received I hope is a good omen for what is to follow.

“Blastoma” will be the hugely anticipated follow up to 2013’s “Lamentations”, with lead single ‘Once’ perfectly building upon the soulful sounds you established with your debut. What would you say are the biggest differences between “Blastoma” and “Lamentations”? 

Ngaiire: I invited more people into my songwriting world with this new one. It was quite interesting and slightly daunting at first being in a room with [Megan] Washington and Paul Mac and also Jack Grace with all their brilliant minds and learning how they approach songs lyrically and structurally. I was more so concerned with aesthetics and being inside my own head with “Lamentations” but “Blastoma” has its own life. I knew she would be bigger and bolder then the last record and I wasn’t so sure I was up for that but she seems to be connecting with more people and a much younger audience these days which is just so fascinating to me. I love how stuff works.

Last year you headed on over to the UK to perform at Glastonbury. No biggie, right? I know this because I was there. I saw you. You were awesome. How was your Glastonbury adventure and any plans to head back overseas to tour “Blastoma”?

Ngaiire: Oh you were there?! Glastonbury was wild. I mean you were there. How incredible is it? It was a real turning point for me on so many levels. I started to see my life and the new album in such a different light. I was feeling quite burnt out after “Lamentations” and Glasto was the inspiration I’d been looking for. Flying halfway across the world to play to a tent full of people who mostly didn’t know me and being received with such open hearts by an audience of mostly strangers made my heart burst. London had been sitting in my gut since then and I can’t shake the feeling.

Quick Hits:

Your dream collaboration would be with…
Ngaiire: Sia

Your favourite songwriter is…
Ngaiire: Carole King

The best gig you’ve ever been to was…
Ngaiire: There have been a few. St Vincent at Vivid and then at Glastonbury was ridiculous. Florence and The Machine at Splendour In the Grass this year was otherworldly also. She is a deity.

The best music video ever made is… 

Ngaiire: Thriller

When they air the Ngaiire MTV ‘Behind The Music’ special in thirty-seven years, what are
they going to say about you?

Ngaiire: She marched to the beat of her own drum.

A huge thanks to Ngaiire for taking the time to have a chat with us! We can't wait to see her tear it up at BIGSOUND Live next month AND to hear the new album "Blastoma" when it's out.