Emerging from a year of ups and downs, Queenstown’s Gina Malcolm’s debut single is the beginning of what she hopes is a long road in music.
Last week Malcolm released her record and music video for Don’t Expect The World with Arrowtown group, Killergrams, after years playing in cover bands.
She says the new track is “vastly different” to the ’90s rock she’s performed in the past.
“It’s sparse and simple … meditative but uplifting.”
Also a successful broadcaster, Malcolm’s life-long love for writing supports her transition into music.
She says as a journalist, she’s always jotting down notes and ideas that pop into her head, and the music she writes is a collection of “years of writing and [being a] frustrated poet”.
Covid is also a big factor in her creative process.
“Life got in the way [this year] … my family tested positive [for Covid], so I was isolating away from them and just felt lousy.
“But then I thought, ‘can I sing to cheer up?’ and it happened to work,” Malcolm says.
She describes the single as the “highlight in a tricky year”.
The music video for Don’t Expect The World, also released last Friday, is set and filmed near the Poolburn Dam and came with its own stresses, Malcolm says.
Produced with a Wānaka-based crew, the concept and location had to be organised in a week and involved long hours of filming, but the singer says it was “the best day of the year”.
“We got to showcase Central Otago, it was so much fun.”
The single is one of five created by Malcolm and her crew, and the artist hings it will likely be an EP.
“I’d love to release it as an album, but it could take a while to get everyone together … for now it’s fun thinking about names [for the EP].”
Malcolm admits she was “a little nervous” for her first solo single and struggled with some self-doubt, but is excited to see where the song takes her.
She says she’s grateful to all those involved and who support her on her journey, especially the experience and reassurance from Killergrams’ Tom Maxwell.
Music is now also a family affair as son Joel, who goes by the DJ name Altercation, released a single within the same week.
The drum and bass track, Down This Road, comes out of the Dunedin-based label Norman Foreman and is available on Spotify alongside Gina Malcolm’s debut.
