Photo: Supplied
Looking at Violet Hirst's back catalogue, you get a sense that the musician, who was raised in Tāhuna Queenstown, spent time in Wellington, and is now based in Tāmaki Makaurau, has been trying on different musical guises for size. Her most recent EP had a certain amount of indie rock bluster, and songs prior to that flirt with jazz and country.
All those influences coalesce on her debut full length, which is brimming with the confidence of an artist fully inhabiting their own sound; wistful and slightly heartbroken, but unencumbered by expectation.
Hirst named the album Donegal after the street it was recorded on in Central Otago. The story of its creation feels appropriately romantic: Hirst, her high school friend and longtime collaborator, Reuben Scott, and De Stevens from the band Marlin’s Dreaming, moved into a house, and made an album.
It's a record with a distinct sense of place, not just in the snatches of household noise running through it, but its overall sound. I looked up Donegal St, and it actually looks quite densely populated, but Hirst sings as if there were no neighbours around to hear her.
That song ‘Alternate Ways to Pray’ was inspired by a conversation with Hirst’s mum, who told her “youth is on your side”, a phrase which appears in the song, along with the line “singing by yourself gets dull”.
Hirst’s voice is volatile throughout, rising to its upper register near the end, and joined by the kind of speak-singing BVs I’ve noticed a few local musicians adopt these past few years. It adds a cheeky, taunting feel to the song. I wonder what her mum thinks of it.
Later, ‘Dissolve Like Salt’ tackles more existential concerns, with sparse synth chords that feel like they’re searching for meaning alongside the singer.
I’m not sure what the line “can’t everything ever dissolve” means exactly, but I feel it. In fact it brings back memories of youthful ennui.
Reuben Scott appeared on Hirst’s first release, and their collaboration is still fruitful. He’s credited as co-writer on the album’s last four songs, and sings on several, including ‘Your Dreams’, a gorgeous folk duet.
That track feels extra personal thanks to lyrics like “I heard your new song”, which give it the feeling of a conversation between friends. It’s that sensation of intimacy that’s made Donegal really stick with me. Violet Hirst is clearly a gifted singer, and she, De Stevens and Reuben Scott have recorded her songs in a way that preserves their slightly raw nature.
On tracks like ‘Oh Honey’, which was mostly recorded live with one mic, it almost feels like you’re eavesdropping. But that’s why it works so well.
