Bobandii talks Te Reo, technology and tracksuits on new album
‘Running Handshake / B.L.U.E.’ proves that, given the right ingredients, New Zealand has the talent to step up to the digital production plate.
Coming to terms with your creative chaos can be a tough journey. Our minds can be consumed by thoughts, ideas, aspirations and self-consciousness. Many of us attempt to reign in our creativity to improve it. We build walls around our intuition and spend far too much time battling with those walls. On Running Handshake / B.L.U.E., Bobandii has taken a big step towards breaking down his creative barriers. The album is eclectic, genre-bending and emotionally unruly but somehow it bleeds together to build an immensely rewarding listening experience.
The album is packed with thematic threads:
Running Handshake / B.L.U.E. side-steps quickly between styles and moods. Tracks like Tracksuit and Falcon are energetic head boppers, whereas Free and Focus are atmospheric and emotional. What ties the album together so well are the themes. There is a lot to read into on the project, and I don’t want to constrain the ideas expressed into a single sentence, but they include Bobandii’s culture, his love-hate relationship with technology and his artistic journey. Sometimes these themes are expressed using three words or a whole verse. Sometimes they’re communicated in the mood of the track, and other times they crop up through cunning wordplay. If you have difficulty opening yourself up to a bit of an introspective journey, you may find it tricky to spot the threads, but they’re there.
International acclaim:
New Zealanders are incredibly talented in many genres. We have internationally cherished metal, pop, hip-hop, electronic and reggae artists. One area we don’t always meet an international standard at is experimentation. With so many digital production tools proliferating, it could be argued that New Zealand has yet to take advantage of them in our own way. While we can be proud of our traditional musical success, Bobandii provides New Zealand with a unique opportunity to make an international name for experimental digital audio production. Given the right attention and support, Bobandii has the potential to influence music in the same way as Flume, Sophie, Bon Iver, James Blake or alike. Running Handshake/ B.L.U.E. proves it’s only a matter of time.
