Greytown gig hits just the right note

At the tail end of a two-week New Zealand Pacific Studio [NZPS] artist residency, award-winning alternative musician Vera Ellen captivated an audience at Greytown’s Studio 73 with songs old and new. Ellen was this year’s inaugural Singer-Songwriter in Residence for NZPS, a volunteer-run residency programme in Wairarapa that has hosted artists from all creative disciplines since 2001. Ellen’s set ranged from ‘Broadway Junction’, a fan favourite – and the final single released from her critically acclaimed third album, ‘Ideal Home Noise’ – to new material that included some of the nine songs Ellen workshopped during the residency. A question-and-answer session also involved playful discussion around production tips, the art of songwriting, and the comfort brought to audience members by Ellen’s style of singing in an undoctored Kiwi accent.