Former Midnight Youth frontman Jeremy Redmore is bringing to Queenstown an intimate performance of songs - both from his stunning new album, as well as his back catalogue of hits - and will be joined by 18-year-old wunderkind Sam Charlesworth in a special evening at the Sherwood.
It's been a year since Redmore released his acclaimed comeback album The Brightest Flame. It was a release cut short by Covid's varying symptoms, but the season is now right to take these cinematic songs and their embedded stories to audiences across Aotearoa.
Winter 2021 presents itself as the perfect scene for a set of songs that were conceived while Redmore was living in Toronto in the midst of snow-piled pavements, breathless cold and a collapse of the world as he knew it.
What emerged from that time was an album universally praised by critics for its emotive strength and sonic complexity and a surprising departure from his previous solo album and work as the writer and frontman for Midnight Youth.
Redmore’s writing here is as lucid as ever, and he hasn’t lost his ear for melody, but this is much more introspective slow-burn than stadium stomp, Matt McAuley wrote for The Spinoff.
The multi-tracked vocals and oscillating synths of early album standout ‘So Easy (II)’ recall the work of Canadian indie legends Wolf Parade, while the red-eyed balladry of songs like ‘Goodbye’ and ‘Southern Lights’ split the difference between early Bon Iver and late Walkmen to powerful effect.
Redmore says fans can expect not only songs from The Brightest Flame, but also from his complete catalogue, including unheard interpretations of Midnight Youth hits.
Joining Redmore on the lineup is Sam Charlesworth. This teenage prodigy already has four self-produced albums to his name and his latest - The Duality of the Human Mind - is an acoustic-based charmer; evoking shades of early 00s Sub Pop and Elliott Smith, along with contemporaries like Andy Shauf, Phoebe Bridgers and Angelo De Augustine.
Auckland - Friday 11th June, Wine Cellar
Tauranga - Saturday 12th June, 146 Devonport Rd
Wellington - Friday 18th June, Moon
Queenstown - Friday 25th June, Sherwood
Dunedin - Saturday 26th June, Bark!
Christchurch - Sunday 27th June, Blue Smoke
