Jackie B Productions, 2023. Produced by Mark Punch & Jackie Bristow.
SongCatcher started as a one-day songwriting workshop run by the Queenstown- and Nashville-based singer-songwriter Jackie Bristow, then grew into a full songwriting programme that helps young people build their creative identities through music. These identities have now been showcased on a compilation EP, that features works by six young Wakatipu-based songwriters: Ivy McKenzie (12), Taylah Miller (12), Freya Jeffery (12), Mala Januszkiewic (16), Addisyn Miller (9) and Saige Galloway (12).
The songs are written by young people for their own age group, but the EP is still a great listen for anyone.
Freya’s ‘Reach The Highest Peak’ showcases her strikingly mature vocals. Both Saige’s ‘New Zealand is My Home’ and A-Jay’s ‘Summertime’ serve as odes to Aotearoa’s outdoors (there are nods to Queenstown’s Vertigo bike track, the Coast to Coast adventure race, and biscuiting in the Marlborough Sounds). ‘Letter’ by Mala is a pitch-perfect love song, Ivy’s ‘Upbeat’ is take on staying positive when things turn to custard (very comforting, thanks Ivy), and Taylah’s ‘Like a Girl’ is the sisterhood anthem we still need right now: “maybe I run like a girl / maybe I kick like a girl / maybe I swim like a girl … I’m proud to be a girl”.
Wish I’d written something like this when I was 12 instead of staying up too late every night watching Magnum PI reruns. I could have used a mentor like Jackie. – LW
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