Laura Williamson
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Book reviews: mammals and lizards
New Zealand’s Native Mammals: When and where to see them –by Carolyn King (Upstart Press, 2024) Geckos & Skinks: The remarkable lizards of Aotearoa – by Anna Yeoman (Potton & Burton, 2024) When it comes to wildlife, Aotearoa is known primarily for its birds, which isn’t surprising, because we really do have an exceptional and…
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Music review: The Dreams of Our Mothers’ Mothers!
Mousey (2024) This is the third album from the brilliant Ōtautahi-based and Silver Scroll nominated songwriter Mousey (aka Sarena Close). This time she wants it darker. A less upbeat offering than her first two releases, Lemon Law (2019) and My Friends (2022), The Dreams of Our Mothers’ Mothers! delves into themes of family estrangement, something…
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Music Review: Blue Mind
Tess Liautaud (2024) A Franco-American who is sometimes based in Ōtautahi and spent a time living in and gigging around the Southern Lakes, Tess Liautaud has been bringing her brand of alt-country / Americana (the team at Flying Out called it “rootsy Canterburycana”) to our speakers and stages for a few years snow. Blue Mind…
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Film Review: Inshallah
“We had no real plan except to head north into the mountains.” Directed by Georgia Merton and Isobel Ewing, ‘Inshallah’ is a short film (“the perfect length for a cup of tea” Georgia says) about bike packing through mountainous northern Pakistan. The two ended up cycling, and sometimes hitching with bikes lashed to the roof,…
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A plague on both our islands
The 1964 guide to pest control in Aotearoa. The American at the dinner table is telling us about coming across a woman, who from the sounds of it was a West Coaster, in the act of dispatching a possum. I won’t get into it, but a rock was involved. He goes a bit pale as…
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The Right to Repair
Can we fix it? Yes we can, and we should. It’s Sunday morning, and the Wānaka Community Workshop is abuzz with power drills, bobbin winders and hammers. Outside under a marquee, someone is sorting out the drivetrain on a vintage Mongoose hybrid bike. In the main workspace, a wooden chair, a planer and a toaster…
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Book review: Performance
By David Coventry Simply put, Performance is a memoir detailing David Coventry’s experience of living with ME (Myalgic encephalomyelitis), a debilitating illness that has a way of defying diagnosis, treatment, causation, and sense. But Performance can’t be simply put. It is a memoir, but also a novel, a work of autofiction, and a space in…
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Book review: Heart Stood Still
by Miriam Sharland After nearly two decades in the country, Miriam Sharland was set to move back to the UK in early 2020. Then the borders closed. Heart Stood Still (Otago University Press, 2024) is a series of personal essays based on her journal entries from that time. The pieces follow the pattern of the…
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Album review: Midnight Hours By Killergrams
An alt-country/rock band based in Arrowtown, Killergrams is singer-songwriter Tom Maxwell, singer and bassist Sam Maxwell, as well as Nick Lynch on piano and Reuben Pearce on drums. More a reintroduction than a release, Midnight Hours has an interesting backstory. A change in distribution companies saw the original album, their 2019 debut, taken off streaming…