Over the last couple of years, Melbourne-based New Zealanders Matt Joe Gow & Kerryn Fields have been writing, recording and touring together, harnessing the undeniable musical chemistry they have and channelling it into their sublime new album I Remember You.

Right across the record, even when things get busier, there’s a wonderful sense of space and pacing that allows the songs to breathe and for Gow and Fields’ voices to shine and intertwine. Both are highly emotive singers but they know the power of restraint and release when it comes to maximising the weight that gives to melody and meaning. 

The huskiness in Fields’ soulful folk voice at times stops you in your tracks, particularly on the spine-tingling ‘No Trace’ where she takes centre-stage. Imagine a quavering Gillian Welch and Beth Gibbons at their deepest and you’ll know what I mean.  

Elsewhere on the album, Gow embraces his inner Elvis on ‘Carry On’ and they ratchet up the fun on the rattle and shake rock ’n’ roll of the single ‘Love Ya Like I Can’. ‘Black Sand’ possesses a more contemporary production sound as it conveys the strong pull of Aotearoa’s west coast beaches. They leave us with another highlight, the slow motion sway of ‘Here I’ll Be’. It’s deeply soulful and emotive music of the highest order on this finely tuned and perfectly balanced artistic collaboration.

Chris Familton