As they prepare to attend a prestigious American music school, young Christchurch singers Will Luhrs and Monet Schutte have released a beautiful soul ballad.
Christchurch musicians Will Luhrs and Monet Schutte Photo: Cam Dunstan / Dunstan Photography
Will and Monet are both jazz vocalists in Burnside High's Specialist Music Programme, which is an amazing place to learn, he says.
"It's a super intensive programme where we have lots of time with tutors and performance opportunities. I'm very lucky to be surrounded by a whole bunch of students that are very hyper-focused on music."
The pair both received partial scholarships to attend summer school at Boston's Berklee College of Music, although Will wasn't confident his application would be successful.
"Because I was up against international students I didnt know how much of a shot I had but I thought that I'd put in a few months' work and see what happened."
Will, who is 16, has never visited the US before.
"I think it's fair to say I'm pretty excited. I've never been to America at all so going by myself will definitely be a very interesting experience."
Right now, he's also excited about the great response to 'Our Masquerade' – a sleepy, saxophone-rich track written while he and Monet wrote were playing around with funk sounds one day back in January.
"I wasn't sure what to expect releasing something that isn't too mainstream. It's more soul slash, I would say, jazz with a lot of pop influence… it wasn't the style we intended to write [a song] in but Monet's voice really suits the genre."
