Taranaki is really providing my happy place this week! Courtnay Low, a member of the fabulous Mons Whaler, is also the leader of Courtnay & The Unholy Reverie. This band takes its influences from a number of classic forms like jazz, blues, rock and roll – and have delivered an absolute monster of a rocker with new single Mercy.

Sam Johnson at Ōakura’s Rhythm Ace studios did the recording before it was passed off to Chris at Kog for its polish up under the mastering school of sorcery. And wow! A nature-laden opening gives way to a guitar riff right out of the Suzi Quatro/Joan Jett & The Blackhearts schoolbook. The tone, the style, sent me away to a heavenly jam session full of valve amps, top hats and flares. Deliberately providing a riff that drips 70s Glam Rock, leading to Courtnay‘s vocal performance is a seamless process, and the leading lady’s chops are incredible in depth and the versatility of her timbre. It’s not retro though, I hasten to add. This is definitely a 2024 number!

The vocal leads the track through the first half, and I was pounding my hands on my knees in shameless air drums to a symphonic blend of Delta Blues, out and out Glam Rock, Heavy Country and Gospel all rolled into one breath-taking package. This is well-thought out music, delivered by professionals who wanted to push the boundaries into one another and say “look folks, this shit really works!” And by gum it does too! The video, added more recently, absolutely follows the musical plotline along the above descriptive paragraphs.

It’s set in what appears to be colonial times. Black and white, and in a settler part of the country. Or is it the old West? That’s what’s cool – it could be either. It could be both. It could be neither – with the way certain people in certain bee-is termed places of work are driving a regressive ideology through with no regard for democratic process, this could be us in five years time! Anyway…

Courtnay and the band appear to be the baddies, which I find wonderful! Baddies as in a gang dressed in black, non-conformist and menacing as they saunter through the shots. Fabulous scenery, great props, impressive acting and period outfits. It’s on the You Tubes, have a gander.

The bottom end pitches deep and tight, and the guitar work is, as I said, sooo Len Tuckey in tone and chord work (Suzi Q‘s hubby at the time and guitar man for her backing band) plus there’s some great hard edged lead that builds and becomes an absolute BEAST of a guitar solo – right up at School of Rock virtuoso level. Pure heavy rock, and a well considered counterpoint to the Delta Blues/Heavy Country vibe, resulting in the band elevating the composition even further. Sam and Chris got the studio work bang on too, as it’s still a smooth yet high energy tempo number with such a winning blend of genres. Genres that historically stemmed from one to the other – which this song is testament to how that transpired – and how they can live together in a single track. Take notes. It’s online so you can. I said so.

The professionalism of the Taranaki cohorts continue to impress me. Courtnay Low has a major pedigree in the NZ music scene (she’s supported Motörhead, which leaves me wildly envious!), and deserves to be supported and thoroughly aired. Mercy is a great track, with an unexpected ending wherein the Gospel undertone comes to the fore, in an oddly dystopian way. To me anyway. I loved it, I will add. It just felt to me that the addition of the Gospel ending was saying something about discord and disconnection. It brought the song into today’s world events for me. Catastrophic events on the other side of the planet; increasing division being sown by faux representatives here, with a growing unease that it’s just the beginning of our problems. It spoke to me of this stuff. Weird? Nah – music is subjective, and it triggered thoughts in me. Kudos again, whether Courtnay intended that or not. Art is art. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

It’s a live venue song. It’s a Metal Bar song (Riccardo, take note!). It’s a Blues club song. Listen to this at a festival. Anywhere you can stand and sing along with the great chorus, ear-worm that it is. It’s not on Spotty Fly yet, but when it is I shall be adding it to the Flash-Trax playlist with gusto.

This is definitely in my lexicon. Taranaki is coming folks, and Courtnay & The Unholy Reverie are in the vanguard. Join in!