Mushroom Music Publishing

Needing no introduction, Anika Moa returns to our sound waves plucking the heart strings of love and loss on her 4th album Love In Motion, due for release on April 5.

After 12 years in the music business, numerous Apra Silver Scroll nominations, a debut double platinum album with Thinking Room, platinum status with her third album In Swings The Tide, Moa could be termed a minor veteran. But that would suggest she has lost the confessional nature that has become her signature in the world of pop music. She may be turning 30 this year, and life evolving to incorporate new ambitions - but as always - Anika Moa lays bare her soul & casts a tender and cheeky grin across every song and crowd.

Evolving from the 18 year old handpicked to discover fame and fortune in New York City - to an industry savvy and undeniable, still very ‘hard-case’ Maori girl from round-about Christchurch. The common thread that ties her humble beginnings to the artist with three poignant and successful albums is her natural knack - an instinctive pop sensibility.

Almost every song you’ve heard through Anika Moa’s career takes you into her very private space, a tender place where she plainly wears her heart on her sleeve.

Each album has been part of Anika Moa’s musical evolution and a reflection of immediate influences. While her first album Thinking Room could be coined confessional pop, her sophomore effort Stolen Hill is coloured with a jazz/blues brush, the third album In Swings The Tide distinctly country tinged; the new album trades the acoustic guitar for the electric, and moments of laconic rock is the result. “I’ve been influenced by rock a lot more on this album. Artists like Patti Smith, The Gossip and I was thrashing Ladyhawke during the recording of the album. I even stole a melody from The Gossip and used it in ‘Running Through the Fire (Storm)’ on the new album.” Love In Motion was recorded between Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studio in central Auckland and Bruce Lynch’s Boatshed Studio in Bayswater, under the shadow of Auckland harbour bridge and was an exercise of disciplined focus.

“This is the first album that I really thought about what I wanted; I did a lot of pre-production and recorded it quickly. The songs themselves are quite sparse, I wanted to keep them simple in structure, concentrating on the layering of vocals and guitars; bringing a tighter depth to the sound.”

Co-produced with Andre Upston and recorded with her band of usual suspects, (Chip Matthews, Geoff Maddock, Nick Gaffaney and Godfrey de Grut) Anika Moa is very proud of the result, a place where love can be a battlefield or a goldmine. But she quips; this love is a varied and complex thing.

“All of the songs are about love, that’s true, but not one particular type of love. Some songs are about people you hate to love, some are the flip – the ones you love to hate. Others are about people you’re completely in love with, and family love too. To be frank, I was having a joke with myself that I wanted love in title of every song.”

Recently married in February this year, Moa’s partner is her muse and many of her songs are the result of being separated from loved ones. With a lifestyle caught in the treadmill of recording, promoting and touring an album, her lyrics are the thing that brings those people closer when they are far away. It is one of Anika Moa’s ethereal and intimate truths, the flipside to her casual and earthy nature. The songs themselves on Love In Motion subtly switch from lush harmonies and a lone voice, to the rush of a new sound, one that fuses all the instruments into a single direction. The first single from the album ‘Running Through The Fire (Storm) ‘is a fine example. With contagious riffs & a nodding pulse, it sees Anika Moa tapping into an electric current, her acoustic ambitions amplified. Caught somewhere between the traditional Anika Moa, Fleetwood Mac and The StRokes, the first single accentuates a twist in direction and also an intention to bring her live show into a rock realm.

“I felt like a change, especially when I play live, I want to play more guitar solos!”

This homage to 1970s country/rock is no accident, with multi layers of Anika Moa’s voice and the versatile jangle of Geoff Maddock’s guitar drawing influence from some timeless classics.

“Apart from the femme fatale bands and artists I mentioned earlier, I was also heavily influenced by the lush vocal harmonies of Fleetwood Mac and the guitars on Hotel California by The Eagles.”

Like a typical Kiwi road trip, Love in Motion is full of twists and turns, hypnotic straight lines and ethereal motions that fade into the distance. It is a lilting and gentle album with break out moments that surge forward, moods that break out of the bubble, as Anika Moa herself admits.

“I am a woman & moodiness goes with that. It is a day by day thing. Nah, actually it is more of an hour to hour thing. I guess those moods are a good thing because they’ve enabled me to forge a career. It is from them that I find my reflective thoughts.” With a showcase tour for the new album coming up in May and a tour de force of New Zealand scheduled for October, Anika is looking forward to playing the new album and older classics to her legion of loyal fans. After that she is planning on a new phase in her life. “I say this every time I release an album, but I really want to have children after touring this album... I’m serious this time. I want to have a family with my wife, go tramping, travel the world and show my kids how beautiful our planet is... how interesting all the different cultures are.”

So whether this is Anika Moa’s swansong or the next chapter in her pop vision, we can be sure that Love In Motion is another timeless snapshot of a woman travelling with the ebb and flow of love and life. These elemental forces provide us with another poignant Anika Moa album, one that consolidates all the others, flying the flag for confessional art and pop perfection.