New Music Radar: Rain In The River, Molly Devine
Kiwi pop artist and songwriter Molly Devine makes her mark this August with her brand new EP, RAIN IN THE RIVER.
The four-track record includes the already released single Someone Like You, which received love from Dunedin’s tastemaker bNet station, Radio One as well as a number of international blogs, and the new single, Rain, from which this body of work takes its name.
“I was going through a rough patch with a loved one, he was really hurting. I was thinking about him as I was walking my dog around the local park. I heard the line, ‘We’re rain in the river on its way to the sea’ and I felt a beautiful sense of deflation. I hope he does too,” Molly says of the EP’s lead single Rain.
Rain sets the tone for a lush and atmospheric body of work, which came together when Dunedin-based Molly found herself in a studio in Wellington with composer and producer Nigel Stanford and producer/artist Nik Brinkman, who has worked with the likes Josie Moon and Mitch James and who has also lent his talents to projects such as Junica and Over The Atlantic.
“The three of us got together one morning, it was my first official collaboration so I was nervous but it didn’t take long until we got into our flow. We all worked very differently, Nik thought it was hilarious when I brought out my hardcopy of Roget’s Thesaurus. Nigel had made his own thesaurus like an app on his computer, and Nik just used Google. That day we created EP’s opening track, The Sculptor, which is an exploration of the destructiveness of time,” explains Molly.
“I came up with the lyrics watching a young boy build a sandcastle as the tide was coming in. He was so excited when the waves rolled in and flattened it. I thought that was brilliant. After that Nigel went off designing another app, so Nik and I kept the music going.”
In Nik, Molly found a creative kindred spirit, with the pair also collaborating together on the EP’s imagery, which saw Nik also turning to one of his many other talents - photography. “I love the music videos that Nik made for Junica, so I asked if he’d help me with the artwork and he was ready and excited!”
Combined their creative forces have resulted in a soundscape of indie-pop that screams originality. “I feel a sense of curiosity and yearning when I’m listening through the EP again,” says Molly, “Nik’s production is expansive and the lyrics are so visual and colourful. I feel ready to share it.”