Anika Moa "Love in Motion" 2010

...While in Melbourne writing Love in Motion, Moa got a call from Jon Toogood. “I love him,” she says emphatically. “He rang me, and was like ‘Hey, Neeks, how’s it going, let’s meet up’. I was so in love with Shihad, it was crazy.” This phone call led to Moa’s involvement with supergroup The Adults in 2011 (with Toogood, Deans, Carter and Ladi6, among others), and she wrote two songs with Toogood for the album, ‘A Part of Me’ and ‘Sleep me Tight’. Moa says the process was simple. “I just went to a studio with Jon … I wrote two songs with him, and recorded them. I thought they were demos, and then all of a sudden they were on the album!”...
...Another supergroup was mooted for Moa in 2010, Allusionz (a link back to her mother’s group Illusions), a girl-group with Deans and Anna Coddington. While the project didn’t eventuate, Moa is keen to revisit the trio, saying, “it was garage band music! Nothing flash, it was very interesting.”
Instead, a trio comprising of Moa, Boh Runga, and Hollie Smith formed (as AnikaBohHollie), and released the album Peace of Mind in 2013, co-produced by Jol Mulholland, who was a key musical presence in the studio. Moa enjoyed this experience greatly. “We came about because we’re all friends, and we just wanted to do an album together.” AnikaBohHollie and The Adults toured New Zealand with Fat Freddy’s Drop in early 2013 as part of the Winery Tour.
In September 2013, Moa joined the collective troupe Fly My Pretties for their ‘Homeland Tour’, and subsequent album (The Homeland Recordings), contributing the piano and acoustic guitar based ‘Cry’.
Backtracking slightly to 2012, Moa (along with TrinityRoots' Warren Maxwell, Maisey Rika and Ruia Aperahama) was involved in Songs From the Inside, a 13-part television series that took the musicians inside Arohata and Rimutaka prisons to record music with 10 inmates. The musicians taught songwriting, and helped the prison inmates write the songs, which were then recorded for album release. Moa told Scott Kara at the New Zealand Herald, “I believe in music being an integral part of the healing, learning and keeping-your-mind-busy process” and signed on for series two in 2014, which featured Don McGlashan, Leighton Kora, and Annie Crummer.
In 2013, Moa and Fyfe separated. Moa channelled her emotions into writing her children’s record, Songs for Bubbas, for her twins – and partly to save herself and other parents from relentless sound of The Wiggles – and starting work on a new album. Songs for Bubbas in particular was a high point.
“It was a saviour for me. Andre Upston and I … we recorded it very quickly in his studio … and it was fun, it was lively. When I recorded it, I didn’t have any troubles, it was all about the kids. I’d come home and say ‘hey boys, listen to this.’ I’m so happy and proud about it. It’s one of my proudest albums.” Songs for Bubbas has been equally successful, winning a Tui award for Best Children’s Music Award, and ‘Colours Are Beautiful’ winning Best Children’s Music Song of the Year at the 2014 New Zealand Music Awards.
With an eye on a new solo album, Moa again toured nationally with Julia Deans in early 2014, playing newly written material. She continued to tour, embarking on the So Good They Named It Twice tour with X-Factor semi-finalist Benny Tipene, taking in towns Kihikihi, Matamata, and Kerikeri, and then playing three gigs in Christchurch with local folk artist Mel Parsons.
Following this, she and Mulholland decamped to The Lab Recording Studio to further write and record her sixth album, Queen at the Table, which was released in April 2015...to be continued... - Amanda Mills and AudioCulture
trax:
01 Two Hearts 02 Running Through The Fire (Storm) 03 I Am The Woman Who Loves You 04 Blame It On The Rain 05 Secrets And Lies 06 Love Me Again 07 Flying On The Wings 08 Love In Motion 09 In The Air 10 Burn This Love 11 Running Through The Fire (Bulletproof Remix) 12 Love Me Again (Part 2)
…served by Gaius…