New Zealand Listener - May 26, 2018

54 LISTENER MAY 26 2018

BOOKS&CULTURE

B

ernie Griffen has enough miles on

the clock to deserve a long-service

medal. Now 67, he has run his

own label, Global Routes, hosted

a regular show on bFM in Auckland and

staged band nights, such as The Gunsling-

ers Ball and Southern Fried Sundays at the

now-defunct Kings Arms. But a near-

death experience on a flight to Germany

spawned the creation of a great album

of rough, bluesy folk that tells personal

stories.

Griffen spent five days in

a coma after falling ill in late

2016 on a flight that was

supposed to be taking him

and partner Kirsten Warner

on a European tour. The

flight was diverted to Bris-

bane, where he was treated

for pneumonia.

While recuperating in Australia, Griffen

decided to make the most of his enforced

break by playing at open-mic nights and

joining community musicians. He also

put together an album that, he says, had

been “bubbling up inside” him for years.

The result sounds as gritty as 2014’s

Salvation and 2012’s Everything So Far, but

his natural, honest storytelling (which

derives from his love of

Johnny Cash, Neil Young,

Woody Guthrie and John

Prine) really comes to the fore

in tracks such as My Brain

Exploded (which deals with

past addictions, ADD and

his long relationship with

Warner) and I Fell Out of the

Sky (which talks candidly

about that flight).

He also pushes Warner (whose byline

is rather better known for her poetry and

journalism, but who is now a fully fledged

member of Griffen’s Thin Men) to the

front and their voices – albeit creaking

and frank – combine to create a tender

authenticity.

Griffen says his near-death experience

has shown him the importance of not

wasting any more time and he’s keen to

produce another album soon.

“I just want to create a body of work

before I die,” he says. “It’s a body of work

that should have been started in my 20s

but a lot of other things got in the way.

“I had such a distorted life as a young

man. But now I’m in my 60s, I know I just

can’t be straight, it’s not in my makeup

• I’m an eccentric, strange man and I’ve
  given myself over to that.”
  DOORS WIDE OPEN, Bernie Grien and the
  Thin Men (Rhythmethod)

Inirmity

blues

Two local acts turn

personal catastrophe

into gritty, rich work.

MUSIC

by James Beleld

Wellington singer-songwriter Emily Fair-

light’s second album, Mother of Gloom,

comes seven years after her debut, but

has a new strength and focus she puts

down to how she has recovered from a

brain injury sustained two years ago in a

4m fall onto concrete.

She still deals with memory loss and

“lots of post-concussion stuf” and ind-

ing that she can’t multi-task has forced

her to work with more intensity. “I often

write in a manic state and can ind I’ve

done a couple of songs before

midday.”

The result is an album

she admits is dark

–“When you have a

head injury, it can feel

like you lose a massive

sense of yourself,” she

says. “And when you’re

feeling lost, that’s when the darkness

can seep in” – but Fairlight’s rich, quiver-

ing vocals and the album’s dusty,

country patina (it was recorded in

Austin, Texas) make for a vigorous

combination. Mother of Gloom

places her irmly among the crop

of Kiwi alt-folk stars that includes

Nadia Reid, Eb and Sparrow

and Aldous Harding.

MOTHER OF GLOOM, Emily

Fairlight (Various streaming

services)

Emily Fairlight: dark

and dusty.

A new headspace

Kirsten Warner, left, and Bernie Grien: a tender

authenticity.