Ian Gilmour.

Old Friends Ian recorded a first album, ‘My Red Guitar’, at the same studio a couple of years back and once again I find myself impressed with his songwriting, which has certainly developed since his debut. These are mainly wistful songs of reminiscence – the opener ‘Old Friends’ is a perfect example – stories of mates and mentors Ian has known, filled with observations and references to the natural world, its birds, trees and customs.

There are a couple of heartfelt love songs, ‘Ours Is A True Love’ and the gentle waltz of ‘The Ice In My Whisky’, while ‘Three R's And A Rifle’ opens with bird calls and natural sound effects before name-checking Tui and Kereru in the story of a book-writing bushman friend of Ian’s who left school at 15.

Musically, ‘Raise A Glass’ sits in a laid-back folk-

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And on to a couple of local releases. Firstly, and I’ll be coming back to them as they release more, Crooked Finger is an indie pop band from Mount Maunganui, comprising Sandra Muir (vocals, guitar), Phil Duncan (drums) and Steve Calvert (bass), along with lead guitarist Simon Mottram and keyboard player Patrick Gibbons, who gives the band its name due to severe arthritis. I am assured that his fingers are indeed very crooked.

The band first recorded and released a few songs in 2021 and have now taken the leap from home recording to a professional studio, working with Even Peters at the Mount’s 11b Studio. The first two songs recorded there, ‘Pay Attention’ and ‘Not That You Would Say’, are catchy little numbers concerning respectively creativity and suicide, are now on Spotify with videos on YouTube, and there are more songs partly recorded and nearly ready to go.

Across town singer-songwriter Ian Gilmour has been busy at Whakamarama’s Boatshed Studio and country tradition, producer Nigel Masters using a variety of acoustic instruments – guitars, piano, strings – to orchestrate the songs and add to Ian’s acoustic guitar, harmonica and mandolin. Nigel's trademark ‘Knopfler-style’ electric guitar provides colour while Richard Coad pops in from Katikati to provide tasteful dobro. The arrangements, at first listen, are deceptively simple, then slowly reveal considerable depth and complexity.

Ian isn’t the greatest singer in the world and I don’t expect he has any plans to perform the songs live. But his plain approach gives these stories a straightforward and effecting honesty. With the instrumentation and Ian’s evocative turn of phrase these are thoughtful songs that can paint pictures for you, of New Zealand and its landscape and people.