One of New Zealand's most renowned female voices is back on the scene with her new album Water or Gold. Hollie Smith talks to Te Kāea about what inspired her latest solo album before its release this week.
One of the most distinct and powerful voices and Aotearoa's lady of jazz and soul is back.
Who else but Hollie Smith, "The new album, it's been a while.”
Long-awaited, her latest full solo musical offering Water or Gold comes nearly six years to the day since her last solo album release.
Smith describes her new album, "It sounds simpler, the melodies are simpler the chordal structures are simpler.”
Smith’s whangai son played a big part in her album, “A lot of the time it was enjoying every minute watching him develop and grow and do stuff it was like it enriched my whole entire soul to such a different degree that nothing has ever been able to do."
Taimana also features on the track Dream, which Hollie wrote for him while he was in the studio.
"I'd always end up literally like working with him on my knee like this and when I was recording he'd come in and like 'can I do a take now' it's like yes you can do a take so I ended up capturing his voice on that song,” says Smith.
Her new album drops this Friday but she is already writing pieces for her next album.