Alison Moyet announces NZ tour

 Photo by Steve Gullick

UK pop legend and relentless explorer Alison Moyet will be touring Australia and New Zealand in October 2017, as part of her recently announced world tour. This will be her first visit to this region in over 30 years. The BRIT Award Winner and Grammy Nominee will be showcasing her catalogue of big hits from the 80s and new material from her soon to be released album, ‘Other’.

‘’I'm beyond delighted to be returning to Australia and New Zealand again after 30 years”,  said Moyet, “Having had some considerable time to practice in the interim, I am glad to declare that gigging is my favourite thing ever. My new album 'Other' which continues the electronic sound-bed I favoured on 'the minutes' allows my live work to also present many of my earlier songs in their intended form, albeit with some jiggery pokery. Songs you know well. Songs to introduce you to. Ps. I don't do 'invisible' but will do some Yazoo. It's unarguably a fair exchange. ’’

Between 1984-1987 Alison was the biggest English female singer songwriter. Her first solo album ‘ALF’ was a UK #1 and had three big international hit songs – ‘Love Resurrection’, ‘All Cried Out’ and ‘Invisible’.  She continued to release hit singles and albums into the late 80s and in 1991 received a Grammy nomination for her song ‘It Won’t Be Long’.  In 2002 she received a BRIT and Mercury Music Prize nomination for her album ‘Hometime’, her first album after an eight year break. Alison continued to write and record into the new century and will release her new album ‘Other’ (through Cooking Vinyl) on June 16th ahead of her much anticipated world tour. 

“For me, making a record at this age, lyrically, is a different proposition. Observation in most cases replaces emotion. The invisibility of middle/aged woman rather thrills me and instead I watch”, explains Moyet.

“Subject matter covers what you might expect from a pop album.  Dyslexia, locked-out syndrome, diversity, Persephone, doggedness and the Internet. Always asked what a song is about, I attempted to cooperate, but in truth though the lyrics incorporated my best attempt to describe what I see and of the meaning that is mine. I want, who chooses to, to find their own landscape or indeed none. Some of us have always felt 'Other'. I no longer wish it were otherwise.”

Despite Alison’s professing of age, the music bursts with clarity, vitality and freshness, whether in the zingy ‘Lover Go’, chic laid-back soundtrack-style ‘The English U’, ‘Beautiful Gun’s nod to her rock and roll roots, the icy Germanic arpeggios of ‘Reassuring Pinches’ or ambient, spoken-word poem ‘April 10th’.

The hauntingly fragile and sparsely presented title track ‘Other’, accompanied by a hypnotic video directed by Steve Gullick, is available as an instant track download when pre-ordering the album.

 ‘Other’ finds Alison at the top of her game - making exactly the adventurous electronic pop music she wants to at this moment in time, with her voice and songwriting both intense, poetic and thought provoking. ‘Other’ was catalysed by Alison’s fruitful dalliance with producer and song writing collaborator Guy Sigsworth, who (as well as having worked with Björk, Goldie and Madonna), co-created her last album ‘the minutes’, which debuted at # 5 in the national charts and won critical acclaim.

In addition to Alison studying sculpture at college whilst also creating this new release, other happenings of note since ‘the minutes’ include receiving an Icon Award at Nordoff Robbins Silver Clef Awards, a hot ticket performance with a 32 piece orchestra at Burberry’s London Fashion Week womenswear show, and her involvement in the RSC’s celebration of Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary where Alison composed and performed a new arrangement of ‘Sigh No More Ladies’ (from Much Ado About Nothing) in their BBC 2 live special.

Alison Moyet

Friday 13th October: Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington - Tickets via Ticketek

Saturday 14th October: ASB Theatre, Auckland - Tickets via Ticketmaster

Monday 16 October: Isaac Theatre, Christchurch - Tickets via Ticketek