Latest news with #Voom
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Music reviewer Grant Smithies
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. Photo: supplied Nineteen long years after their 2006 classic Hello, Are You There? , Auckland quartet Voom finally released a follow-up this month. We'll hear two key tracks from that today, followed by a gorgeous new song from Ladi6 and some trippy cosmic Cuban funk from Dan Tyler and Juan Pablo Torres.
Scoop
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Flying Nun Power-Pop Band Voom Release ‘Something Good Is Happening' Today!
The release of the latest Voom album has taken just short of two decades. Is this pace glacial, or considered? Sloth-like, or discerning? The Tāmaki Makaurau-based foursome will tell you the nineteen years since their much-loved 2006 record, Hello, Are You There?, have been spent jamming and gigging, writing, rewriting and sifting, reflecting on what surely must be some of the strangest times in human history to present fans with their latest offering. Something Good is Happening is the child of strange seasons and tides, strange minds, pedals and fingers. After accumulating literally hundreds of demos over the years, Flying Nun Records thought it was about bloody time Voom got at least some of these songs packaged up and released into the wild. The band agreed, and so have been painstakingly whittling and curating and bashing these tracks into shape, to form the 2025 album Something Good Is Happening. Each track has walked a different path into being a part of this record. Written and recorded in a variety of locations, with a plethora of different equipment, over decades of seasons and life stages, but always steered by the unsteady hand and watchful ear of frontperson Buzz Moller — seen by some as one of NZ's most treasured songwriters. All members of Voom (Buzz Moller, Murray Fisher, Nick Buckton, and Josh Sorenson) are multi-instrumentalists and producers in their own right, consequently this combination of minds has helped forge the sound and vibe of this new album. While this is fresh material, existing fans hearing Something Good is Happening will recognise the Voom-ness of it all – an eclectic rumble of raucous pop ear-worms and heartfelt ballads, with sonic experimentation wedged in to keep things sensible. Voom's songs have an earnestness to them that feels refreshingly free of irony; a quality that sets them apart in a musical landscape often dominated by cynicism. Voom embraces a raw, unfiltered honesty that resonates deeply with listeners. Their tracks are often brimming with youthful defiance, but it's not the jaded, world-weary attitude you might expect from a band with such a reputation. Instead, they channel a certain innocence and optimism into their sound, even when grappling with themes of frustration or disillusionment. On Something Good Is Happening, the band stays true to this unpretentious style, weaving together skewed pop melodies that are as endearing as they are infectious. Despite the thick layers of playful cynicism and an occasionally rebellious edge, the album doesn't stray from the fresh, heart-on-sleeve sincerity that has earned them a loyal fanbase. It's that rare combination of vulnerability and attitude that makes Voom's music feel both timeless and immediately relatable. To celebrate, the band have announced a four-date New Zealand tour, taking their new songs (and some beloved classics) on the road for the 'Something Good Is Happening Tour'. Beginning at Auckland's hottest new venue Double Whammy on Friday 23 May, the band head off the beaten track to Raglan's The Yard on Saturday 24th before firing up the following weekend with shows at The Loons in Lyttelton on Friday 30 May and finally San Fran in Wellington on Saturday 31 May.
Scoop
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Flying Nun Power-Pop Band Voom Release 'Something Good Is Happening' Today!
The release of the latest Voom album has taken just short of two decades. Is this pace glacial, or considered? Sloth-like, or discerning? The Tāmaki Makaurau-based foursome will tell you the nineteen years since their much-loved 2006 record, Hello, Are You There?, have been spent jamming and gigging, writing, rewriting and sifting, reflecting on what surely must be some of the strangest times in human history to present fans with their latest offering. Something Good is Happening is the child of strange seasons and tides, strange minds, pedals and fingers. After accumulating literally hundreds of demos over the years, Flying Nun Records thought it was about bloody time Voom got at least some of these songs packaged up and released into the wild. The band agreed, and so have been painstakingly whittling and curating and bashing these tracks into shape, to form the 2025 album Something Good Is Happening. Each track has walked a different path into being a part of this record. Written and recorded in a variety of locations, with a plethora of different equipment, over decades of seasons and life stages, but always steered by the unsteady hand and watchful ear of frontperson Buzz Moller — seen by some as one of NZ's most treasured songwriters. All members of Voom (Buzz Moller, Murray Fisher, Nick Buckton, and Josh Sorenson) are multi-instrumentalists and producers in their own right, consequently this combination of minds has helped forge the sound and vibe of this new album. While this is fresh material, existing fans hearing Something Good is Happening will recognise the Voom-ness of it all - an eclectic rumble of raucous pop ear-worms and heartfelt ballads, with sonic experimentation wedged in to keep things sensible. Voom's songs have an earnestness to them that feels refreshingly free of irony; a quality that sets them apart in a musical landscape often dominated by cynicism. Voom embraces a raw, unfiltered honesty that resonates deeply with listeners. Their tracks are often brimming with youthful defiance, but it's not the jaded, world-weary attitude you might expect from a band with such a reputation. Instead, they channel a certain innocence and optimism into their sound, even when grappling with themes of frustration or disillusionment. On Something Good Is Happening, the band stays true to this unpretentious style, weaving together skewed pop melodies that are as endearing as they are infectious. Despite the thick layers of playful cynicism and an occasionally rebellious edge, the album doesn't stray from the fresh, heart-on-sleeve sincerity that has earned them a loyal fanbase. It's that rare combination of vulnerability and attitude that makes Voom's music feel both timeless and immediately relatable. To celebrate, the band have announced a four-date New Zealand tour, taking their new songs (and some beloved classics) on the road for the 'Something Good Is Happening Tour'. Beginning at Auckland's hottest new venue Double Whammy on Friday 23 May, the band head off the beaten track to Raglan's The Yard on Saturday 24th before firing up the following weekend with shows at The Loons in Lyttelton on Friday 30 May and finally San Fran in Wellington on Saturday 31 May.
RNZ News
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Music Critic: new Voom and Proteins of Magic
Zac Arnold from NakedPR is in the studio today to recommend and preview some new music. It's the brand-new single Crazy Feeling from Voom's upcoming new album. He then chats about Proteins Of Magic, the project of Kelly Sherrod and the song Bayou. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
NZ Herald
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Real Life: Voom frontman on ‘crushing moment' apology song for ex became accidental radio hit
'That song, I dreamt it. I have a crazy brain for dreaming. I just have all these epiphany-type dreams, and that song had been going around and around in my head all night and I was like, worn out by the morning with this melody.' Recognising its emotional resonance, Moller immediately went and recorded the song. He told Real Life he never intended to release it or play it with Voom – he just wanted to play it to Beth over the phone. He played the recording for his friend and bandmate Andrew 'Mac' Macaskill first. 'He says, 'So what's it about?' And I said, 'It's obvious, I'm apologising to Beth'… And he said, 'Well, I didn't know that was what it was about. You're talking about the moon and the lake and something like that. Why don't you just write exactly what you mean?' 'And so I went back down there and racked my brain and wrote exactly, literally what I meant, which was quite awkward because generally boys tend to sing in analogies or safe words or something. But I just wrote it very, very literally.' There is no misinterpreting what the lyrics to Beth are about. Moller lays his heart on the table in the song, explicitly mentioning the broken promise he made to move to Australia, and admitting he still wanted to be with Beth. 'I worked very hard on them [the lyrics], you know? And then I played it to her down the phone and she cried when I played it to her. And I was like, 'Yes!' That was my only goal for that song.' Unbeknown to Moller, though, the song was going to be heard by many more people than just Beth, leaking into the mainstream via record label owner Trevor Reekie and musician Johnny Fleury. 'We were signed to him and he asked me for a new song to put on the radio, and I gave him a song on a cassette. He was listening to it before he took it up to the radio station… And then the cassette carried on playing and flipped over, as cassettes did back then. 'And on the back of the cassette was that recording of the Beth song, which I hadn't intended him to ever [hear]. And they both sat there in silence listening to it, and they go, 'We're taking that one up to the radio'. And they took it up without telling me.' Moller didn't even know it had been released until he saw a friend on the street who told him he loved the new song. 'He started singing those lyrics about Australia and stuff and I was going, 'What? What do you mean? How do you know that song?' And he said, 'Oh, it's No 1 on bFM'. 'And I just had this crushing moment of embarrassment, like 'no one's meant to hear that, that's so embarrassing'.' Elsewhere in the interview, Moller spoke about his experience of Asperger's syndrome, being the 'black sheep' of a family of engineers, architects and farmers, and releasing a new album after nearly two decades.
