Being.
19th October 2017
Golden Dawn, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review and Photography by Sarah Kidd.
New Zealand has a ridiculous amount of talented musicians in this country. Auckland is positively teeming with them. And yes truth be told, there are some that just stand out from the rest. So when there is an offer of three top notch local bands playing live for the princely sum of basically one bottle of craft beer, you run towards it with open arms. And judging by the size of the crowd that squeezed themselves into the space that is known as The Golden Dawn: Tavern of Power, there were more than a few patrons who knew exactly how good a deal it was.
In celebration of Being. (aka Jasmine Balmer) releasing her first single entitled ‘High in Mind’, a tremendous evening of musical talent has been brought together. Kicking it all off are the faultless duo entitled Diego Rice who inject a little bad ass tastiness into the commencement of the evening’s festivities with a nice little instrumental remix of Migos ‘Bad and Boujee’. Armed with a guitar, laptop and mixer this delicious little duo are the perfect start to the night, delivering fantastically packaged little morsels to the swelling crowd such as ‘The Submarine Song’, one of the first tracks they ever penned, and ‘Aloe Vera’ which is so soothing in its rhythmical nature that time and place just slips away. While only a duo, they manage to produce a surprisingly heavily laden ambience, their final track of the set entitled simply ‘909’ finishing it all off with a dazzling display of bravura.
The wonderfully cosy stage of Golden Dawn fits a duo; however tonight’s five piece version of The Naenae Express has to be a little more creative when it comes to instrument placement. But once everything is indeed in place (so damn efficiently too) and the baby blue maraca has been recharged with some coffee beans graciously supplied by the venue (straight from the jar), it is time for the music to envelop the fans and draw them closer on the billows of stage smoke that hang lazily in the air.
Scott Kendall quietly announces that the band are about to begin and with that they slowly take the audience down into the peaceful sway of ‘Asteroid Blues’, Kendalls’ voice ever so lusciously rich. The Naenae Express are just ensuring that the audience are relaxed and fully open to what it is they have to offer however, as the set then continues to grow in intensity. And when it comes to intense you can’t go past New Zealand’s love of cricket, so it makes complete sense that a song about the legendary bowler Ewen Chatfield is bold and boisterous, with vibrant choruses that cause imaginary colours to be injected into the black and white old school movie being projected above the bands heads. It’s often hard to tear your eyes away from bassist Benjamin Locke, his demeanour one of malcontent as he moves from leaning against the wall to facing it, offering up his guitar and letting it vibrate in his hands on the back of the undulating sound waves. Following the euphoric applause, Kendall comments on the size of the patronage in attendance “Wow, what a packed house … it’s like somebody changed the government” his sideways smile and brilliant comment eliciting laughter and even louder cheers from the crowd. It was more than appropriate then that The Naenae Express finished the evening on ‘Go Out and Vote’, the urgency and fervour of the song summing up exactly how most young New Zealanders had been feeling right up until the political decision of just who would lead this country into the future was finally made.
As Jasmine Balmer “the voice and creative director” behind Being. steps up to the microphone it is with an air of graceful serenity. Encased in muted colours, her bare shoulders gently absorbing the low lighting, she smiles at the audience and at that exact moment Jasmine is quintessentially ‘being’. With her guitar in place and bassist Josh (aka The Flea) having successfully tested out the floorboards in his socks, Being. unravel their set list before the breathing room only audience, all of whom are completely enamoured with the artist before them. While visibly a little nervous, Balmer does not allow this to cloud her performance instead she expels it from her body in the form of short anecdotes and humour; ‘Lucy’ the second track of the set just as wonderfully gratifying as it was when performed at Clap Clap Riot’s album release show back in May of this year; her vocals resonating fantastically in this far more intimate venue. Balmer is obviously delighted with the turnout, openly laughing as she likens it to having an 11th birthday party and being terrified that no one would turn up and then being pleasantly surprised when everybody does.
One of the main components of Being. is Balmers’ ability to examine her own intricate mindscapes, addressing within herself as well as through her music and spoken word the personal journey to arrive at one’s self; this voyage featuring heavily in the multi-faceted and colourfully upbeat soundscape of the single ‘High in Mind’, which the fans embrace with loving arms and open faces as the elation courses through them. Filled with emotion, Balmer unleashes some powerful spoken word poetry upon the room, the same words that feature in her very first zine which she has collaborated on with the artist Huia. This beautiful zine is certainly a treasured piece and an exciting addition to any collection. There is no encore, Balmer already gifting a part of her inner self tonight that has completely fulfilled all expectations through several different mediums. A completely wondrous evening of melody and composition.
Diego Rice:
The Naenae Express:
Being.:
Were you there at Golden Dawn: Tavern of Power for this intimate gathering? Or have you seen Being. perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!